DPH chief: Mass. prepared to maintain vaccine access
BOSTON (SHNS) – The state public health chief called the firing of all 17 members of a federal vaccine advisory panel 'troubling' on Wednesday, while acknowledging that Massachusetts officials have been bracing for such a scenario.
On Monday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. dismissed all members of the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP. President Joe Biden's administration had appointed all 17 members, including 13 in 2024, and 'these appointments would have prevented the current administration from choosing a majority of the committee until 2028,' Kennedy's office said.
'In dismissing the members, the secretary stated his intention to repopulate the committee and to hold the scheduled ACIP meeting June 25 to June 27,' Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said. 'This news is troubling. It amends a science-based process that has informed vaccine recommendations and promoted vaccine access for decades. The future of federal vaccine policy is unclear.'
In a statement Monday, Kennedy said the move was 'necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.' New members were not announced but Kennedy's office said they will 'ensure that government scientific activities are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available.'
At a virtual state Public Health Council meeting Wednesday, Goldstein said it's unclear if new ACIP members 'will continue to use evidence and science to guide our vaccine recommendations and vaccine policy.'
'We've been been preparing for a number of scenarios, including this one, and we are well positioned to respond and maintain access to vaccines across the state,' Goldstein said. 'Starting in November, we've been analyzing the legal and regulatory landscape, identifying resources that could be used to guide vaccine recommendations, strengthening our data systems to understand vaccine effectiveness, and building a coalition of like-minded, evidence-based public health organizations in this state and others.'
The Massachusetts Vaccine Purchasing Advisory Council, which helps distributes vaccines recommended by the ACIP, is slated to meet Thursday in Waltham.
At a public hearing on Friday, Massachusetts parents and medical providers urged state lawmakers to scrap religious exemptions for school immunization requirements. The plea came amidst measles outbreaks in the U.S. Meanwhile, vaccine opponents lamented potential state infringements on their faith and personal beliefs.
Students from preschool to college are required to receive a bevy of vaccines, including for polio, Hepatitis B, and measles, mumps and rubella, according to the state Department of Public Health.
State law allows students to seek medical and religious exemptions, and refiled bills from Rep. Andy Vargas and Sen. Edward Kennedy (H 2544 / S 1557) would eliminate the religious carveout for immunizations required in public, private and charter K-12 schools. Under the proposals, schools must submit data annually to DPH about how many students are vaccinated and how many received a medical exemption — with that information then made publicly available.
'Three of our Northeast neighbors — Connecticut, Maine and New York — have eliminated their non-medical vaccine exemptions in recent years,' Katie Blair, executive director of Massachusetts Families for Vaccines, told the Joint Committee on Public Health. 'They have seen subsequent improvements in immunization rates, increasing the herd immunity protection that their most medically vulnerable residents depend upon. It's time for Massachusetts to do the same.'
The committee reported the legislation out favorably at the end of last session on Dec. 16. Democrats in the Health Care Financing Committee did not advance the proposal.
The majority of vaccine exemptions are for religious reasons in Massachusetts, according to DPH. Some western and southeastern parts of the state, especially on the Cape and Islands, have higher rates of vaccine exemptions, and those areas 'may be more susceptible to disease outbreaks because these students are not fully protected,' DPH says.
Kyle Abrahamson, a biomedical engineer, said he opposed the bills because they encroach on his 'free exercise of religion' and constitute 'tyrannical overreach' from state government. Abrahamson argued that removing the religious exemption would force him to choose between his faith and his child's education.
He also spoke against Sen. Becca Rausch's so-called Community Immunity Act (S 1618) that would preserve religious vaccine exemptions but strengthen the exemption process and improve data reporting.
'Parents — not the state, nor any medical professional or anybody else — but parents are the paramount advocates for their own children,' Abrahamson said. 'If H 2554, S 1557 and S 1618 move forward, the state is taking away parents' faith and forcing parents to put their faith in them.'
Julie Booras, co-founder of Health Rights Massachusetts, said she 'strongly' opposes all school-related vaccine bills before the committee. She testified in support of a Rep. John Gaskey bill (H 2431) that would block the state from requiring COVID-19 shots, mRNA vaccines or gene-altering procedures to enroll in K-12 schools, colleges or universities, as well as to enter private businesses or seek employment.
'This bill is critical to ensure the injustices of the COVID era can never happen again,' Booras said. 'Despite all of the information now available about the physical, emotional and financial harms caused by the COVID countermeasures, nothing has changed. No meaningful action has been taken to rein in the sweeping powers granted to the governor and public health agencies by the Massachusetts Legislature.'
Vaccine supporters had emphasized new urgency over removing religious exemptions as they invoked the worsening measles outbreak in Texas and other hotspots. Texas has logged 744 measles cases since January, causing 96 people to be hospitalized and two deaths among school-aged children, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
There were 1,168 confirmed measles cases and three confirmed deaths across the U.S. as of June 5, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Massachusetts has not recorded any cases.
'Measles is an awful disease with dangerous complications and side effects,' Dr. Richard Moriarty, a retired pediatric infectious disease specialist, said. 'With cuts in health care funding, how are we going to pay if there are outbreaks? Outbreaks are very expensive.'
Moriarty did not specify the funding cuts, but the Trump administration has moved to slash billions of dollars in public health grants and congressional Republicans are advancing proposals to drastically cut Medicaid dollars to states.
'Measles is so infectious, we need 95% of a population immunized to prevent an outbreak,' Moriarty continued. 'We thought our schools were good in Massachusetts, but if you take a deep dive into them, 119 kindergartens have MMR rates less than 90%, 31 schools are below 80% in Massachusetts, 19% of our schools didn't even bother to report their immunization rates this year, and 24% report their rates only on rolling three-year averages.'
Supporters emphasized that vaccine skepticism and misinformation is more common across the country, and the landscape is also marked by shifting federal vaccine recommendations and immunization schedules.
'My colleagues are spending so much time just re-educating parents who have trusted the medical system for years and now have been instilled with this fear, which is completely based on misinformation,' said Dr. Christina Hermos, division chief of infectious disease at UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center. 'The frontline pediatricians are burning out having these conversations. We're already having a crisis of people going into primary care across this nation.'
Kennedy last month announced the CDC is no longer recommending COVID vaccines for healthy children and pregnant individuals.
Goldstein on Wednesday said that COVID vaccines remain available. He stressed that vaccinating pregnant women can protect newborn babies who cannot get immunized yet.
'I want to be clear: We know that COVID vaccination prevents severe illness, hospitalization and death in those at risk, which includes children and pregnant people,' Goldstein said. 'DPH will continue to lift up the data and the evidence that are available to inform our recommendations. And we'll work with insurers, health care providers and others across the state to maintain access to evidence-based safe vaccines.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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