CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is Officially In Crisis, Spewing Dangerous Misinformation
By Michael T. Abrams, M.P.H., Ph.D.
On June 25-26 I tuned into the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting. Cast by the controversial new Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the meeting was alarming yet predictable because of Kennedy’s notorious and strident antics. Just days before, Kennedy dismissed all 17 qualified committee members and replaced them with seven individuals who objectively have far less vaccination and infectious disease expertise than their predecessors.
The brazen reconstitution of the ACIP was the last straw for one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s leading vaccine scientists, Fiona Havers, who resigned in fear that “a lot of Americans are going to die,” because of Kennedy’s vaccine policies.
Just prior to the meeting, Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician and the health committee chair, called for the ACIP meeting to be postponed because the members were underqualified. Still, the meeting proceeded, albeit with an altered agenda.Opening and closing comments by the new ACIP members were eyebrow-raising bookends to the proceedings that portend a dangerous shift away from scientific reviews of vaccines toward those steeped in personal grievance and nonsensical conspiracy theories. The newly installed chair introduced himself as a biostatistician who was fired by Harvard University for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. His keynote remarks further disparaged the news media for “false” reporting about the committee. At the close of the meeting another member characterized the American Academy of Pediatrics as “childish” for boycotting the proceedings. Such moments not only felt awkward, but they further seemed to reflect personal attitudes steeped in conceit, ignorance and animus— all at the expense of rational, science-based decision-making and public health.
The bulk of the ACIP proceedings were guided by substantive CDC staff presentations about vaccines for COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. The committee voted to advance recommendations for the deployment of the new and second approved monoclonal antibody RSV vaccine.
Unfortunately, much of the committee’s discourse revealed concerning biases. For example, members seemed disposed to misconceptions that mRNA or minor vaccine ingredients plausibly lead to dangers, despite extensive evidence to the contrary. The members also seemed eager to highlight hypotheses that vaccines increase risk for their disease targets (so-called, “negative efficacy”) or lead to adverse effects that somehow completely escape detection by responsible scientific staff at the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC.
Overall, this committee seemed predisposed to non-science that likely will cloud future ACIP deliberations. One example was the committee’s vote on thimerosal-containing flu vaccines. Thimerosal, a preservative sometimes added to multidose vaccine vials, breaks down in the body to ethyl-mercury. Methyl-mercury, not ethyl-mercury, is a toxin that results from pollution that contaminates water and fish, which are known to be neurotoxic when consumed by humans. Kennedy has tied thimerosal to brain toxicity, despite many studies revealing no connection. Still, thimerosal was abruptly added to the agenda, and the issue was presented by Kennedy’s former Children’s Health Defense colleague, not by CDC scientists.
All but one of the seven new ACIP members lapped up this theory of thimerosal toxicity. Without evidence, they accepted the argument that mercury accumulation from flu shots may lead to harmful exposure without considering the much more likely contribution of fossil fuel and industrial pollutants. Only one member, the committee’s only pediatric infectious disease expert, directly challenged this agenda item by arguing it was unsubstantiated and distracting from more pressing issues. Still, the committee voted to recommend against the continued use of thimerosal-containing flu vaccines, an action described as a “win” for Kennedy that may discourage the use of needed vaccines.
The new committee chair presented more unsubstantiated data— again apparently without CDC staff input— regarding the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine suggesting that this combination inoculation has an unacceptable risk for febrile seizures. As the ACIP previously adjudicated on this specific concern, it is unclear why it was raised again. The ACIP chair closed his presentation by recommending that MMRV be discouraged for children under the age of 47 months (about 4 years). Removal of an option for measles vaccination is a bad idea, even more so because of the continuing measles outbreak in the United States.
Accordingly, my distinctive impression is that Kennedy’s ACIP is officially in crisis—underqualified and plagued by intellectual distortions. The obvious way to fix this is to remove the unqualified new members and reappoint the 17 experts who should never have been dismissed.