The American Medical Association is also urging an “immediate reversal” of the HHS Secretary’s decision to oust all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory board.
Just a day after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “retired” all 17 remaining advisors on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the American Medical Association passed an emergency resolution urging the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to investigate Kennedy’s actions.
Tuesday’s resolution directed leadership of the American Medical Association (AMA) to request from the Senate HELP Committee an “investigation into the actions of the Secretary regarding his administration” of the CDC, particularly its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). “Vaccines have been proven to dramatically reduce hospitalization and death,” the resolution read, noting that “it is imperative for recommendations to be made without political interference.”
The AMA also called for an “immediate reversal” of Kennedy’s removal of all CDC vaccine advisors. “ACIP is comprised of medical experts from several fields of medicine as well as public members,” the AMA wrote in the emergency resolution, noting that the advisors’ recommendations are evidence-based “and informed by input from stakeholders and subject matter experts.”
The resolution also called for “sustained public advocacy” in support of ACIP and for the AMA to invest in “evidence-based vaccine advisory structures.” “We do not want to be on the wrong side of history,” Jason Goldman, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP) said, as reported by MedPage Today. The ACP was among the authors of the resolution, alongside the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other national and state-wide medical associations.
The move to replace the entirety of ACIP, according to an official HHS statement on Monday, “is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.” The advisory panel “will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas,” the statement continued.
Analysts rang the warning bell in response, with Leerink Partners expecting the new committee members to “likely be sympathetic to at least some of RFK’s beliefs regarding alleged dangers of vaccines.” Kennedy’s statements suggest that the new ACIP “could be more critical of vaccines,” the firm continued in its Monday evening note.
“We view the complete line change at the ACIP as a potential hindrance to the vaccine development space, as we think the new Committee members may have more restrictive recommendations on vaccine uptake and use,” William Blair added in a note Tuesday morning.
Paul Offit, a former ACIP member, told Fierce Pharma Tuesday that in clearing out the committee, Kennedy “is fixing a problem that doesn’t exist.” The Secretary “can point to no specific instance where an ACIP voting member has been unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry,” Offit added. “It’s just all innuendo and conspiracy.”
