An advisory group of experts appointed by US Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy Jr., known for his vaccine skepticism, concluded its first day of work on Wednesday, pledging to review the childhood vaccination schedule.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a key body that advises the CDC, the nation's primary health agency.
The Minister of Health recently dismissed the 17 members of this advisory committee, accusing them of financial conflicts of interest, and announced the appointment of eight new members, several of whom have been criticized.
The meeting opened Wednesday with remarks from Martin Kulldorff, the committee's chairman, complaining that he had been dismissed from Harvard University, where he taught medicine, for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
He also announced the creation of a new task force to examine the value of hepatitis B vaccination for newborns – which has drawn criticism.
"The benefits of vaccinating newborns against hepatitis B before leaving the maternity ward are well documented and established, but it's a long-standing anti-vaccine movement fad, so it's not surprising that it's being mentioned," Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP.
The first major decision for the committee will come Thursday, when it votes to recommend a newly approved vaccine against RSV, the respiratory syncytial virus, for infants whose mothers did not receive a vaccine against that virus during pregnancy.
– Non-existent study –
On Wednesday, biochemist and anti-vaxxer Robert Malone, a committee member, suggested that mRNA Covid-19 vaccines have caused new, little-known effects on the immune system.
An idea strongly rejected during the debates by Sarah Meyer, a scientist at the CDC, who assured that the national vaccine alert system would have detected such effects.
Lyn Redwood, a nurse and former head of Children's Health Defense, a vaccine-skeptic organization co-founded by RFK Jr., was invited to lead a presentation Thursday on a vaccine component called thiomersal.
But scientists spotted that she cited a non-existent study in her previously published slides.
Supposedly titled "Neonatal Exposure to Low Levels of Thiomersal: Long-Term Consequences on the Brain," and dated 2008, it actually doesn't exist anywhere.
These slides have since been modified.
The CDC claims that thiomersal is safe and has no effect on neurodevelopment, but their presentation defending the use of this compound appears to have been deprogrammed.
This committee "will become an outlet for anti-vaccine propaganda and will be increasingly irrelevant to the practice of medicine," Amesh Adalja warned before the two days of discussions began.
Experts are expected to vote on flu vaccines containing thiomersal on Thursday afternoon.
The committee's recommendations could have far-reaching consequences, particularly regarding vaccination requirements in schools and health insurance reimbursements.
RFK Jr. has been spreading misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines and alleged links between vaccination and autism in recent years, particularly through the Children's Health Defense organization.
Since taking over as US Health Minister in February, he has initiated a major overhaul of health authorities.
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