A panel designed to shape national vaccine policy made up entirely of new appointments by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy held a series of chaotic first meetings Thursday and Friday that was plagued with distractions, missteps and misinformation in what health experts decried as a “shipwreck.”
That panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – part of HHS – had its 17 former members removed by RFK Jr. and replaced, with its new members holding their first meetings Thursday and Friday. Health experts who observed the meetings said the panel’s discussions were “troubling.”
“It’s troubling to see the erosion of the committee’s integrity,” said Sandra Fryhofer, a physician with nearly two decades of experience working as a liaison for the American Medical Association, speaking to the panel according to a report Saturday from the Washington Post.
“We’re concerned about how vaccine recommendations are being developed by this new panel. Data is being selectively used to justify specific conclusions rather than considering all of the available evidence.”
Members of the panel floated several concerns over COVID-19 vaccines during the meetings, including concerns that the vaccines may have links to increased rates of cancer and autism, or that they could contaminate a person’s DNA, all claims that have either been thoroughly debunked or lack any scientific evidence.
Panelists also voted to stop recommending a combination of vaccines to toddlers during their Thursday meeting – measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox vaccines – but voted the next morning to provide the same combination of vaccines to toddlers in a confusing, contradictory vote, the Washington Times reported.
One panelist blamed her mother’s cancer on a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, while other panel members were largely distracted, such as panelist Robert Malone, who during the meetings posted on social media repeatedly about transgender people, Turning Point USA, and about his impending appearance on a podcast with Roseanne Barr.
During the chaos, one meeting attendee could be heard uttering “you’re an idiot.”
“What we're seeing is what happens when individuals who don't have a basic understanding about how vaccines are delivered are making these crucial policy decisions for the American public,” said Sean T. O’Leary, the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases, speaking with the Washington Post.