On Wednesday, just minutes after the first meeting of scientific advisers who had been appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began, it was clear that the new panelists intended to renew scrutiny of the shots recommended to Americans, particularly childhood vaccines.
The meeting of the group, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, marks a remarkable and fraught moment in public health. The gatekeepers of immunization policy in the United States, mostly scientists with deep expertise, have been replaced with people who are often deeply skeptical of the safety of many vaccines.
The advisers’ decisions may have a powerful impact on the availability of the shots. Insurance companies and government programs like Medicaid are required to cover immunizations that A.C.I.P. recommends, and states base their school mandates on the panel’s guidance.
Martin Kulldorff, formerly a professor of medicine at Harvard University and the committee’s chair, began the meeting by inviting people to freely share their skepticism of vaccines and chastising the media for fanning the “flames of vaccine hesitancy” by labeling some new panelists as anti-vaccine.
Dr. Robert Malone, a chair of the panel, has said he considers the label “anti-vaxxer” to be “high praise.”
At the meeting, Dr. Kulldorff said he had been fired from Harvard for refusing to get a Covid-19 vaccine because, he had said, he “already had immunity” from infections.
Dr. Kulldorff added that the panel would evaluate the cumulative effect of shots given to children and adolescents, including a vaccine for hepatitis B given at birth that is credited with nearly eliminating that disease.
“In addition to studying and evaluating individual vaccines, it’s important to evaluate the cumulative effect of a recommended vaccine schedule,” he said.
Dr. Richard Besser, who served as the acting director of the C.D.C., said: “It’s deeply concerning to me that — within minutes of the meeting starting — the new A.C.I.P. chair immediately sought to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines.”
“Vaccine experts regularly study the childhood vaccination schedule, and have repeatedly deemed it to be effective and safe,” he said. “I’m worried that this is a harbinger of even worse things to come.”
Other experts said Dr. Kulldorff’s mention of the hepatitis B vaccine, also a frequent target of Mr. Kennedy’s, was an unwelcome sign.
“The fact that they brought up revisiting the hepatitis B birth dose for infants is concerning,” said Dr. Fiona Havers, who resigned last week from her position as a senior C.D.C. adviser on vaccine policy.
She added: “This and other remarks suggests that they are indeed going to be moving in a direction that will restrict access to safe, effective childhood vaccines.”
Dr. Havers quit the C.D.C. after Mr. Kennedy fired all 17 members of A.C.I.P. two weeks ago. He named eight new members, at least half of whom have expressed deep skepticism of some vaccines.
The meeting on Wednesday was marked by drama even before it began. The panelists were announced barely two weeks ago; usually they are vetted for months, even years. One of the eight new members named by Mr. Kennedy, Dr. Michael Ross, withdrew from the committee on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, many empty chairs lined the table where normally as many as 19 scientists are seated. Two of the seven new panelists — Dr. Cody Meissner, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Tufts University, and Vicky Pebsworth, a nurse affiliated with an anti-vaccine group — attended remotely.
The meeting skipped a roll call of liaisons from various organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, raising fears that they would not be allowed to speak.
When one liaison member inquired about the omission, a C.D.C. official responded: “Sorry. I’m not in control.” Mr. Kennedy and the agency’s director’s office have “taken over,” the official added.
C.D.C. staff members who oversee the panel and organize data workshops preceding the meeting were replaced or reassigned before the meeting. The agency also does not have a director to sign off on the recommendations, which is the usual procedure.
On Thursday, Lyn Redwood, a former leader of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Mr. Kennedy, is scheduled to present recommendations on a version of the flu vaccine that contains thimerosal.
Ms. Redwood has been hired as a special government employee at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative in vaccines that has been shown in dozens of studies to be harmless. It has not been a component of most childhood vaccines since 2001, yet Mr. Kennedy and other critics have insisted that the preservative may be linked to rising rates of autism.
A scientific review of evidence showing the safety of thimerosal posted by C.D.C. scientists on Tuesday was taken down.
Ms. Redwood’s presentation initially included a slide with references to studies that did not exist, CNN reported on Tuesday. On Wednesday, that slide had been removed from her presentation.
But the presentation still maintained that the flu vaccine contains 50 micrograms of thimerosal, double the actual amount in the shot, noted Dr. David Boulware, an infectious diseases professor at the University of Minnesota.
“If the ‘thimerosal expert’ cannot truthfully convey how much thimerosal is present in influenza vaccines, that is a basic factual lapse,” Dr. Boulware said.
A dozen or more C.D.C. scientists typically present data to A.C.I.P. panelists. This time, only a few senior scientists were in attendance. Dr. Adam MacNeil, a senior epidemiologist, offered detailed data on Covid-19.
Dr. Kulldorff asked about the results of double-blind randomized clinical trials on the Covid vaccines, evidently hoping to point out that such trials have not been conducted since the vaccines were first authorized.
Dr. Meissner questioned the Covid hospitalization data. He made a distinction between hospitalizations for or with Covid, an issue frequently brought up during the pandemic by scientists who questioned whether harms of the virus were exaggerated.
Outside experts took issue. “The hospitalization ‘with’ versus ‘for’ Covid is a standard Covid minimizer trope,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, the chair of the infectious disease committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Meissner’s implication that serious harm from Covid is rare in children is “misinformation,” he said. “Rates in children under six months are similar to adults 65 to 74 years, which is not rare.”
Dr. Meissner was a signatory on the Great Barrington Declaration, a manifesto that urged that Americans be allowed to gain immunity following infection without lockdowns.
Dr. Malone and others had probing questions about the safety of the Covid vaccines, questioning whether the C.D.C. had adequately investigated side effects from the shots.
The agency has looked “forwards and backwards and sideways” at the possible side effects, and has not found any associations beyond those it has already detailed, Dr. Sarah Myers, the C.D.C. scientist who presented the data, said in response.
The panel will not vote on Covid shot recommendations at this meeting, because a preliminary meeting scheduled for June 12 was not convened.
On Thursday, the panelists will also revisit federal recommendations that young children receive the vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, which has been available since 2005.
Apoorva Mandavilli reports on science and global health for The Times, with a focus on infectious diseases and pandemics and the public health agencies that try to manage them.
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