Thursday marked the completion of the first meeting of the vaccine advisors appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They will be responsible for rescheduling vaccines for children and voting to remove an ingredient from flu injections that has been a focus of the anti-vaccination movement.
This conference provided an early look at the operations of the newly formed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the ways in which Kennedy’s ideas are starting to influence government vaccination policy. He replaced seventeen panelists earlier this month with eight, including those with vaccination skepticism in their pasts. There were seven members remaining after one quit before to the meeting’s start.
The members of the group are esteemed professionals who “deliver recommendations rooted in data and medical integrity,” as HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon assured reporters. Nixon added, “They take their responsibility to public health seriously.”
The following were the key points covered during the two-day gathering in the Atlanta headquarters of the CDC:
Among its goals was Kennedy’s
Kennedy has long sought the removal of the preservative thimerosal from flu vaccines, and on Thursday the panel decided to no longer recommend that anybody obtain a flu vaccination containing the chemical.
Kennedy authored a book in 2014 on thimerosal, stating that it is probable to cause autism and ought to be outlawed.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health organizations have long held the view that it is safe. The use of thimerosal in vaccinations has been the subject of extensive research by scientists for a long time. “Thimerosal has not been found to cause harm,” the website states.
In most cases, the suggestions cannot be officially implemented unless they get the backing of the CDC director. Since neither the director nor the acting director of the CDC is present at the moment, Kennedy is likely to be the one to support these suggestions.
If approved, the new recommendations will be among the most visible manifestations of Kennedy’s personal beliefs in American vaccination policy since he became secretary of health and human services.
This change may only influence a fraction of the flu vaccine supply and will probably have little effect on availability in the US this season, but the symbolic significance is strong anyway. To paraphrase CDC consultant and epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina, “it signals that falsehoods may have a place in shaping vaccine policy in America.” (HEADLINESFOREVER 38). “Vaccine confidence, worldwide vaccine accessibility, and pandemic readiness could all take a hit as a result of the domino effect.”
Even today, some multi-dose vaccination vials employ thimerosal as a preservative to stop the development of germs. However, due to product reworking and the adoption of single-use vials, its usage in flu vaccinations approved by the FDA has decreased within the past quarter of a century. As to the CDC’s findings, the majority of them contain negligible amounts of thimerosal.
This change occurred because of worries that the mercury-containing chemical thimerosal was associated with an increased risk of autism in children in the late 90s and early 2000s. In 1999, as a precaution, the FDA and CDC declared their intention to collaborate with vaccination makers to decrease or eliminate thimerosal. Vaccines for children did not contain the preservative until 2001.
A member’s resistance
Even while the discussion upset some public health professionals, the fact that the panel’s lone pediatrician, Dr. Cody Meissner of Dartmouth, was the only voting member to challenge arguments that ran counter to scientific consensus was encouraging.
Vaccine-preventable illnesses have been dealt with by him. Dr. Paul Offit, a physician who is part of the FDA’s external vaccination panel, stated, “I thought he was generally a voice of reason” since he had discussed vaccines with parents.
What this means is that how Meissner handles contentious issues at future sessions is anyone’s guess. Additionally, he has openly concurred with Kennedy’s decision to withdraw the recommendation of the COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women, even though there is abundant evidence of its advantages. Politics, according to May’s Reuters interview with Meissner, has led authorities to place too much emphasis on the need of the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women and young children.
Offit and other former federal health officials praised his involvement and scientific stance.
The American Academy of Pediatrics was criticized by Meissner for declining to attend the conference. A number of professional organizations send representatives to ACIP meetings so they may voice their opinions, although they do not have voting rights.
“It’s pretty juvenile for them not to appear,” Meissner remarked towards the meeting’s conclusion on Thursday. “The most effective recommendations for vaccine use are those that result from open discussion.”
In defense of the group’s choice to sit this one out, AAP committee liaison Dr. Sean O’Leary stated that ACIP “has drifted so far from its long standing focus on science, evidence, public health.”
He promised to return “when that focus” as well.
Anticipate more examination of immunizations
The committee’s next agenda items suggest that the policy adjustments that potentially impact vaccination availability in the US are only getting started, with Thursday’s thimerosal votes being the first.
The idea of substantial modifications to the pediatric schedule is being raised by ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and former professor at Harvard Medical School. On Wednesday, Kulldorff said that the panel will examine juvenile vaccinations and doses that have not been evaluated for more than seven years.
Additionally, he mentioned on Thursday that the panel could advise against administering the MMRV vaccine to children younger than 4 at their upcoming meeting. This vaccine protects against both measles and chickenpox. Due to an increased risk of febrile seizure—common in young children but not harmful—with the MMRV injection, the CDC presently advises that children under 2 receive the varicella vaccination and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine separately.
The significance: With so many other options, the thimerosal decision and any revision to the MMRV recommendation would not impact many people. Public health experts warn that widespread vaccination drives increase the likelihood that low-income families and people living in rural areas will get flu shots, which could have a disproportionate effect on these populations already struggling to get the medical treatment they need.
For a long time, those who are against vaccinations have claimed that they cause autism. Despite no links being shown in peer-reviewed literature, they have speculated that thimerosal, the increased vaccination of young children, and post-immunization fevers might all be contributing factors to the increase in diagnosis.
Scientists are concerned that the ACIP votes will revive unfounded concerns about the ingredient, which could reduce vaccine confidence and make it harder for the small percentage of the population that received those multi-dose vials of flu vaccine, even though the CDC reports that only 4% of the vaccines distributed in the US last season contained thimerosal. Not many kids younger than four get the measles, mumps, rubella (MMRV) vaccination.
“We wanted to make people scared… Offit stated that the objective was to draw attention to the fact that certain corporations are included harmful substances in their vaccinations.