CDC official overseeing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations resigns
Source: CBS News
June 3, 2025 / 7:33 PM EDT
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Tuesday she was resigning from her role overseeing updates to the agency's COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, following an order by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to force an update to the agency's guidance.
"My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role," Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos wrote in an email to some members of the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Panagiotakopoulos had served as one of the leads of the work group on COVID-19 vaccines within the ACIP. She sent an email to members of the work group early Tuesday morning to say she was resigning, multiple people who received the email confirmed to CBS News. Reuters first reported news of her resignation. Panagiotakopoulos and a CDC spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The process to update the CDC's influential vaccine recommendations is closely watched by experts because they are tied to federal policies and programs, including liability protections, vaccines for uninsured children and requirements for insurance coverage. The committee had been set to vote on updated recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines at a meeting later this month, before Kennedy usurped the process to impose his own changes to the guidance.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-official-overseeing-covid-19-vaccine-recommendations-resigns/

gab13by13
(28,376 posts)The new Covid variant coming from China has been found in 6 states and it is more transmissible.
The old Covid vaccines are supposed to still work but it would be nice to have someone like Dr. Fauci back to let us know.
I guess wife and I will schedule our Covid shots.
mdbl
(6,624 posts)only a few more to go before it's completely worthless.
hueymahl
(2,792 posts)CurtEastPoint
(19,482 posts)mdbl
(6,624 posts)I feel bad for the people left at the CDC still trying to do a credible job under really shitty leadership.
CurtEastPoint
(19,482 posts)Marthe48
(20,751 posts)Of this year.
I absolutely hate that all of the effort so many of us Americans put into trying to limit the fallout of this virus went for nothing because ignorant criminals wrested control of the government.
Oh well, Covid doesn't care how its host votes, and doesn't exclusively kill Dems. When you think about it, rwnj don't care who they kill, either.
As always, I appreciate the selfless effort from Dr. Panagiotakopoulos and others to keep us healthy. Thank you for your work.
twodogsbarking
(13,880 posts)Blues Heron
(7,072 posts)not fooled
(6,303 posts)And I have my "you're a moron" retort ready at the tip of my tongue for when the inevitable maggot yells something stupid at me in the Costco parking lot.
IronLionZion
(49,028 posts)anyone who is experienced, knowledgeable, qualified, and does the job correctly gets forced out. Replaced by MAGA loyalists who will agree to any BS coming from the top.