Ongoing Refurbishment of ACIP; Kennedy Plans to Recruit Seven New CDC Vaccine Consultants
The Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has announced plans to add seven new members to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). This move comes after Kennedy's push for the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who refused to sign off on rolling back certain COVID-19 vaccine approvals.
The proposed new members include Hillary Blackburn, a pharmacist and director of pharmaceutical services at Dispensary of Hope; Joseph Fraiman, an emergency medicine physician based in New Orleans; John Gaitanis, a pediatric neurologist at Brown University in Rhode Island; Evelyn Griffin, an obstetrician based in Louisiana; Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist and pastor in Hawai'i; Raymond Pollak, the former chief of transplant surgery at the University of Illinois; and Catherine Stein, an epidemiologist at Case Western Reserve University.
However, it's worth noting that none of the new members appear to have direct vaccine or infectious disease experience. This has raised concerns among public health experts, as ACIP's role is to provide advice and guidance on the use of vaccines to prevent infectious diseases.
Joseph Fraiman, one of the proposed new members, has authored a 2022 paper questioning the safety of mRNA vaccines and is also the author of the Hope Accord, a public petition calling for the withdrawal of mRNA vaccines. He has also appeared as an expert witness in multiple lawsuits alleging injury from vaccines.
Kirk Milhoan, another proposed new ACIP member, is affiliated with the Independent Medical Alliance, a group critical of COVID-19 vaccines. Robert Malone, another ACIP member appointed by Kennedy, is also affiliated with this alliance and has testified in front of Congress that mRNA vaccines can cause cancer and autoimmune disease without evidence.
The addition of these members to ACIP would bring the total membership to 14 voting members. It's important to note that the other three members proposed by Kennedy who are not named in the reported article are not explicitly listed in the available sources.
This move by Kennedy has sparked controversy, with many public health experts expressing concern about the potential impact on vaccine recommendations and public trust in vaccines. The future role of these new members in ACIP remains to be seen.
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