Kennedy replaces fired US CDC panel members, includes anti-vaccine proponents
US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr alleged that the prior panel members had conflicts of interest. PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr named eight members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on June 11, including several who have advocated against vaccines, after abruptly firing all 17 members of the independent committee of experts.
They will sit on the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee for Immunisation Practices, which advises the agency on who should get the shots after they are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The group of eight - the minimum number allowed by the ACIP founding charter - includes four who have previously worked on committees associated with either the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, or both.
Others have published papers, posted on social media, or written online biographies with anti-vaccine views, including against the mRNA vaccine technology used in some of the newest immunizations such as the Covid-19 vaccine.
Among them is Mr Robert Malone, one of the most prominent voices opposing mRNA vaccines. He is aligned with Mr Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement.
The group also includes Mr Joseph Hibbeln, Mr Martin Kulldorff, Mr Retsef Levi, Mr Cody Meissner, Mr James Pagano, Mr Vicky Pebsworth and Mr Michael Ross.
Mr Kennedy, who has long questioned the safety of vaccines contrary to scientific evidence, alleged that the prior panel members, many of whom were appointed by President Joe Biden, had conflicts of interest, without providing evidence of specific members' conflicts. He said the move was necessary 'to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science'.
Committee members said their ACIP work follows rigorous vetting of their financial ties and that they must abstain from votes on any vaccine for which they have a conflict.
Mr Kennedy said on X that the panel would attend the committee's June 25 meeting. Advisers had been expected to deliberate and vote on who should receive a number of vaccines, including the flu shot and 2025-26 Covid-19 vaccine boosters, and the meeting had been slated for June 25-27. No agenda has been published yet.
Shares of vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer, which both produced mRNA Covid vaccines, fell marginally while those of Novavax, which did not utilise mRNA in its vaccine, rose marginally in after-hours trading.
New members
It is unclear how new members of the panel have been vetted for conflicts of interest, or when the vetting process began.
Mr Meissner and Mr Pebsworth have served on the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, and Mr Meissner also previously served on ACIP. Mr Pebsworth is now associated with the National Vaccine Information Centre, a group that advocates for vaccine exemptions and educates about vaccine injury.
Mr Kulldorff is an architect of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for a lighter public health response to Covid-19 in October 2020, and previously served on an ACIP vaccine safety subgroup.
Mr Levi has in the past said mRNA vaccines can cause serious harm and death, especially among children, and called for their immediate withdrawal.
Mr Ross, a professor at George Washington University, is an operating partner of Havencrest Capital Management, a firm focused on healthcare investments, according to its website.
The FDA has found that the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines are generally safe and effective, but Commissioner Marty Makary has questioned the benefit of repeated annual shots for healthy, younger Americans. REUTERS
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