Scary and Insane: Chair of CDC Vaccine Panel Says Measles, Polio, Other Shots Should Be Optional
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist and the recently appointed chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on the “Why Should I Trust You?” podcast that vaccines for measles, polio and other life-threatening infectious diseases should be optional. Milhoan made his comments weeks after the CDC, without consulting the ACIP, unilaterally changed the childhood immunization to recommend that all children in the U.S. be vaccinated against only 11 diseases, not 17 diseases as previously recommended. Measles and polio are still among the diseases for which immunization is recommended.
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group Director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“It is clueless and scary for the chair of a federal advisory panel tasked with developing evidence-based recommendations on the use of vaccines to reject decades of established science and undermine public trust with idiosyncratic personal views about individual autonomy and vaccine safety. Lower immunization rates will only lead to epidemics of preventable diseases. 2025 saw a record 2,255 measles cases, including 243 hospitalizations and three deaths, and there have already been 416 measles cases in 2026; the U.S. may soon lose its measles elimination status.
“Even before Dr. Milhoan’s remarks, the ACIP was thoroughly discredited and a national embarrassment. Although the members may have good intentions, the public looks to the ACIP for trustworthy guidance about the benefits and risks of vaccines, not nonsense. The potential for even greater harm to children and the country is incalculable.”