"An October meeting of a key federal vaccine advisory committee has been canceled without explanation, sparing the evidence-based childhood vaccination schedule from more erosion-at least for now. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was planning to meet on October 22 and 23, which would have been the committee's fourth meeting this year. But the meeting schedule was updated in the past week to remove those dates and replace them with "2025 meeting, TBD.""
"That changed when ardent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became health secretary. In June, Kennedy abruptly and unilaterally fired all 17 ACIP members, falsely accusing them of being riddled with conflicts of interest. He then installed his own hand-selected members. With the exception of one advisor-pediatrician and veteran ACIP member Cody Meissner-the members are poorly qualified, have gone through little vetting, and embrace the same anti-vaccine and dangerous fringe ideas as Kennedy."
An October ACIP meeting that had been scheduled for October 22 and 23 was removed from the calendar and replaced with a "2025 meeting, TBD." The Department of Health and Human Services provided no explanation beyond stating that official dates and agendas will be posted once finalized. ACIP evaluates vaccine safety and efficacy and issues recommendations that set national childhood vaccination standards and determine federal and private coverage. In June, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 ACIP members, accused them of conflicts of interest, and installed hand-selected replacements. Except for Cody Meissner, the new members are described as poorly qualified, lightly vetted, and aligned with anti-vaccine positions.
Read at Ars Technica
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