Health
Dr. Jeremy Faust in the Substack “Inside Medicine” warns of the potential impacts a new CDC vaccine advisory committee could have.
In an unorthodox move, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he is dismissing all members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee and plans on replacing them with his own picks, alarming health experts.
In response, Brigham and Women’s Hospital emergency physician Dr. Jeremy Faust took to his Substack, “Inside Medicine,” to raise the alarm about the potential impacts.
“This is massive,” said Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist who was a guest on the show and has a Substack called “Your Local Epidemiologist.” She called the announcement an “alarm for red alert,” saying this is “big news in the vaccine policy world.”
According to the AP, the 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been in flux since Kennedy took over.
The first meeting this year was delayed when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services postponed its February meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for two weeks from now.
Kennedy, known prior to his current appointment as an anti-vaccine activist, also recently made news when he took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the panel.
On the live show, Jetelina stated that the normal process of vaccine policy in the United States involves a set of checks and balances. First, the FDA tests to determine if the vaccine is safe and effective; then, the CDC decides who should receive the vaccine and when it should be administered.
The members of the advisory committee, Jetelina said, include an external group of experts, including pediatricians, cardiologists, physicians, epidemiologists, and others. The panel provides recommendations to the CDC on who is eligible for vaccination.
The panel has two essential functions: One is to determine what insurers are required to cover. The second is to oversee the Vaccines for Children program, which offers more than 50% of the children in the U.S. free access to vaccines.
“The concern is multifold,” said Jetelina. She said it is unprecedented for the health secretary to drop all of the ACIP members at once.
How this will affect everyday people, Jetelina said, is still unknown.
“We don’t know what the implications are for our access to vaccines,” she said.
In the Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Kennedy wrote that the committee members had too many conflicts of interest and that the panel was not transparent.
In response, Faust said that Kennedy’s op-ed piece announcing the change was highly visible but itself lacked transparency.
“This is a draconian move,” said Faust. The reasons why he is dismissing the panel are “a fever dream of conspiracy,” in which Kennedy is confusing “expertise and conflict of interest as the same thing.”
According to Faust, who said he has spoken to one of the panel members, members learned of their dismissal through the op-ed piece.
The panel is made up of “respected scientists, people who care about their communities, our communities, to have access to preventative care,” Faust said.
Faust said it is time to call for action.
“Our votes matter,” Faust said. “Our voices matter. Call your congresspeople.”
Watch the conversation on Substack here.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
