“All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,” Kennedy said in a post on X. The panel is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (The Guardian)
The eight new members of the advisory committee for immunization practices (ACIP) are: Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross.
NPR reports: “This is a huge win for the medical freedom [m]ovement,” David Mansdoerfer, former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services in the first Trump administration, wrote in a post on X, “they did everything by the book to put together this excellent slate of appointees.”
The group of eight includes four who have previously worked on committees associated with either the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration or both. Others have published papers, posted on social media or written online biographies with anti-vaccine views, including against the mRNA vaccine technology used in some of the newest immunizations such as the Covid-19 vaccine.
Numerous physician groups have expressed concern and suspicion over Kennedy’s unprecedented removal of all the panel’s prior members.
All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,” the health secretary added.
Dr Jason Goldman, the president of the American College of Physicians, criticised the new committee.
I’m “The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust, and contributes to confusion and uncertainty,” he said in a statement to CBS, the BBC’s American news partner. BBC
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest physician group, has called for a Senate investigation into their dismissal, and sent Kennedy a letter calling for an immediate reversal of the changes.
