CDC vaccine advisory committee to review long-approved immunizations
"Decision by new ACIP panel reflects ‘anti-vaccine talking points,’ advocate says
A leader of a federal vaccine advisory committee said Wednesday that the panel would start a review of long-approved vaccines, as well as the cumulative effect of the shots given to children and adolescents.
Martin Kulldorff, named co-chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices after health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the former members of the 17-person panel and replaced them with seven hand-picked panelists, announced the news at the start of a two-day highly anticipated hearing in Atlanta.
The review by the ACIP, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be undertaken by two new work groups, Kulldorff said, one focused on the childhood and adolescents schedules as a whole and one focused on shots that have been approved for seven or more years. He specifically cited the hepatitis B shot given to infants at birth and the combination measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox shot, two immunizations that have been targeted by vaccine skeptics.
“We are learning more about vaccines over time,” he said, “and to stay true to evidence-based medicine, we have a duty and responsibility to keep up to date with scientific research to make sure that ACIP recommendations are optimal for both individuals and public health.”
Vaccine skeptics and anti-vaccine groups, such as Children’s Health Defense, which Kennedy co-founded, have long argued that, even if certain individual vaccines were well-studied, the entire vaccine schedule has not been. The cumulative exposure, they argue, could cause harms, such as autism — an assertion widely rejected by others in the scientific community.
“These are anti-vaccine talking points and have been for decades,” said Paul Offitt, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, which normally attends ACIP meetings as one of about 30 “liaison” members, announced Wednesday that it would no longer take part in the process."
https://www.statnews.com/2025/06/25/cdc-vaccines-advisory-committee-meeting-day-1/