By LINDA BOYLE
While I expected changes in the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the 26th secretary of Health and Human Services, I did not have him firing the entire board in one fell swoop on my bingo card.
There were 17 members of the committee — all of whom were appointed by Biden — with 13 taking their seats in 2024. With the expansion of the committee and the new additions just last year it would be 2028 before the current Trump Administration would have appointed the majority of the committee, RFK Jr. pointed out.
“A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” said Kennedy, adding that the new members “will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine” and “no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas.”
Kennedy’s decision is a reversal to what he promised Senator Bill Cassidy (R, LA) who chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, during his confirmation hearings earlier this year.
“If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes,” Cassidy said.
In a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal on the same day as the HHS press release, RFK Jr. highlighted ongoing conflicts of interest among ACIP members. Previous panelists have voted on products due to significant financial incentives from pharmaceutical companies, he wrote.
Several of the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that were fired by RFK Jr. received tens of thousands of dollars from pharmaceutical companies in the past decade, according to HHS disclosure records.
Only one of ACIP’s most recent members, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado from Children’s Hospital at Stanford, had a conflict of interest listed on the CDC website. Maldonado worked for Pfizer’s safety monitoring division and did not vote on the approval of COVID-19, pneumonia, influenza, or RSV vaccines during her tenure.
Maldonado received $33,500 between 2017 and 2023 from consulting work with Pfizer and Merck.
Kennedy cited a 2001 House investigation report that found four out of the eight members of the panel that approved a childhood rotavirus vaccine 1998 had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies in competition to produce different versions of a vaccine for that illness.
The vaccine was pulled from the market in 1999 after reports about complications began attracting media attention. Shame we didn’t do the same for Covid vaccines known to harm people.
Kennedy also cited a 2009 HHS inspector general report that found 87% of members of CDC advisory panels had “more than one type of omission” in their conflict of interest reports as of 2007.
The American Medical Association has called on Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to open an investigation into Kennedy’s decision on firing the entire ACIP committee membership, citing the move violated Kennedy’s promise to Cassidy during his confirmation hearing.
Dr. Jason Goldman of the American College of Physicians introduced an emergency resolution during the AMA’s recent annual meeting to condemn Kennedy’s ACIP move and also demanded Cassidy look into the matter.
The American Pharmacists Association said it is withholding support for the CDC’s latest immunization schedule, citing “inconsistencies with scientific evidence.”
Reported by an HHS source, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Kennedy and the Trump Administration are “taking a wrecking ball to the programs that keep Americans safe and healthy.”
The New York Democrat added that wiping out an entire ACIP “doesn’t build trust – it shatters it.”
Kennedy says he is working to rebuild Americans’ trust in the CDC and recommended vaccines. MSM and major medical groups are decrying this decision acting like it’s the worst thing that’s happened since the beginning of the pandemic.
We need to ensure conflicts of interest between those who approve vaccines and Big Pharma are either reduced or eliminated. Making money off Big Pharma while deciding what shots your kids should get is problematic at best. Especially when many seem to be approved with little thought.
For once, stop the politics. We need to do what is right for our health and our children.
Linda Boyle, RN, MSN, DM, was formerly the chief nurse for the 3rd Medical Group, JBER, and was the interim director of the Alaska VA. Most recently, she served as Director for Central Alabama VA Healthcare System. She is the director of the Alaska Covid Alliance/Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom.
