First meeting of CDC vaccine advisers is mostly business as usual
Vaccine Advisors: Why Do They Need to Be? What Happens if Congress Isn’t? An Open Forum for the ACIP Committee
The endorsement of vaccine use in preventive medicine is something Dr. Anthony Fiore, a former CDC official and member of the vaccine advisory committee, does not want to see disappear.
Despite concerns that the administration might meddle with a committee of vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, their first public meeting since President Trump’s inauguration followed its usual course.
“I’m very reassured that it’s happening, and I’ll be happy to see it,” said the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. It’s important to look at the data that goes into the vaccine schedule in an open forum.
The next public meeting for the committee will be in June and will include topics such as flu and COVID vaccines.
When asked about the change, Emily said it was always subject to change depending on what the working groups were ready for. She further stated that this wasn’t the annual vote on routine use of the flu vaccine.
The advisors are independent experts who volunteer to serve on the committee. Dorit Reiss, a law professor at UC San Francisco, says she expects them to remain independent and hold thoughtful, rigorous discussions as they usually do.
But she’s concerned about the effects of political interference on CDC staff who help run these meetings, who “are in a much more vulnerable position after extensive layoffs,” Reiss says.
“I’ll be looking to see if they change the process in any way,” Reiss says. For example she says she’ll be watching for changes in how conflicts of interest are handled – a topic Kennedy has raised repeatedly – or whether they put time limits on discussions among committee members, Reiss says.
Signs of political interference may be subtle, says Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and data scientist who writes the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.” What it may take, she says, is “for those of us that have listened to hundreds of ACIP meetings to report back whether it is just business as usual or there’s some sketch things beneath the surface.”
CDC Vaccine Advisors Under RFK Jr. is Mostly Business as usual, Reply to Comment by Tracy Beth Heg
When the HHS meeting was postponed in February, the reason was to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting.
Heg argued that vaccinations may be under represented because they may be more likely to seek out testing. CDC staff responded that their studies are designed to account for these and other types of bias. The impact of bias is very small and the estimates are correct according to the epidemiologist with the CDC.
Høeg has questioned vaccine safety, and she raised concerns in this week’s meeting. There are significant heart conditions and medical conditions that are excluded from the study of the mpox vaccine in teens. We don’t really know how safe those adolescents are, so I think it’s important for providers to keep that in mind.
Dr. Tracy Beth Heg is a special assistant to the commissioner who has criticized the CDC for its recommendation of school closings during COVID. She was the liaison when Dr. Peter Marks was forced to resign from the FDA.
The outbreak started in late January and has grown to more than 600 cases across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. “There are quite a number of resource requests coming in, in particular from Texas,” said Dr. David Sugerman, a senior scientist at CDC working on its measles response. Several hundred million dollars of public health funding was lost by the state as a result of a federal clawback. He estimates that a case ofMessrine can cost up to $50,000 for public health response work.
Source: First meeting of CDC vaccine advisers under RFK Jr. is mostly ‘business as usual’
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP): Issues in Research, Policy, and the Politics of Vaccines
Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to expand the options for meningococcal vaccines and to lower the age of recommendation for RSV vaccines to include people aged 50 to 59 with certain risk factors. They voted to recommend vaccines for travelers and lab workers who are likely to get the mosquito-borne disease.
Over two days, members sat through detailed presentations on data and modeling for a range of vaccines – from mpox to flu, COVID and chikungunya – and asked questions to sharpen their assessments of the risks and benefits of different vaccines. The meeting got weedy at times, as the presenters and committee members dug into technical details, which is typical.
The committee was scheduled to meet in February but was delayed due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becoming secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The postponement heightened concerns about possible interference.
“I’m hopeful that the proceedings of ACIP will give us a window into the future of our nation’s vaccine policy in a time of great uncertainty,” said Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware. “As America faces measles outbreaks and a changing political landscape, the public deserves transparency.”
“It seems like business as usual, and it’s sad that that’s a story,” she said in her newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.”
Jetelina said that there were differences in the Trump administration’s actions over the last few months. Trump’s team has made deep cuts to funding and resources for public health. Despite the strong evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, the administration elevated individuals who have questioned the safety and efficacy of them into positions of influence over research and policy.
Some effects were evident from the start. Technical issues plagued the beginning of the meeting and required a fresh link to the public livestream. “There have been some changes with the recent reductions in force, so I ask that you please be patient with us,” said Dr. Keipp Talbot, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and chair of the committee.
The resource cuts were top of mind for some committee members. Charlotte Moser is co-director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and she was wondering if the CDC could evaluate how safe vaccines are.
“Are all of those [data collection systems] still funded to actively collect data through this season and then in anticipation of next season?” Moser asked, after a presentation on the efficacy of the 2024-2025 flu vaccine. In response, CDC epidemiologist Sascha Ellington said three of four flu vaccine surveillance networks would continue operating and that one would be shut down.
