"The already tumultuous landscape of U.S. vaccine policy faces more turmoil in what's anticipated to be a politically charged two-day meeting of a recently overhauled advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is an independent panel of experts that has traditionally met three times a year to make science-based recommendations about who should receive certain vaccines."
"Just yesterday former CDC director Susan Monarez, who led the agency for a month, testified to the Senate about her experience of being pushed out of office for not condoning attacks on vaccines unsupported by evidence. Most dramatically, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of health and human services and a veteran antivaccine activist, fired the panel's membership, with the newest appointees announced only days ago."
ACIP, the CDC advisory committee on immunization, was recently overhauled and now faces a politically charged two-day meeting. A former CDC director testified that she was pushed out for refusing to condone attacks on vaccines unsupported by evidence. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a longtime antivaccine activist and current HHS secretary, dismissed the committee's membership and installed new appointees days before the meeting. Experts worry the new membership will erode public access to lifesaving vaccinations. One in six U.S. parents report delaying or skipping vaccines for their children. ACIP decisions shape vaccine affordability and coverage for preventive care.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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