NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial vaccine advisory committee will reconvene later this week under a new chairman, federal officials announced Monday.
Martin Kulldorff is leaving the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to take a leadership role at the Department of Health and Human Services, officials said.
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, who blamed vaccines for causing cardiovascular disease, will become the new chair. He had been appointed to the committee in September.
Later this week, the committee is scheduled to discuss the pediatric vaccination schedule and hepatitis B vaccines given to newborns.
HHS officials issued a news release praising Kulldorff and his work while leading the group, but did not respond to further questions about the changes. Kulldorff did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Kennedy reconstituted the committee
The committee makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how already approved vaccines should be used. CDC directors have almost always adopted the committee’s recommendations, which have been widely followed by physicians and guide vaccination programs.
Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel earlier this year and replaced it with a group that includes more anti-vaccine voices. He also appointed Kulldorff as president.
Under Kulldorff’s leadership, the group made several decisions that angered major medical groups.
At a meeting in June, the group recommended that a preservative called thimerosal be removed from flu vaccine doses, even though some members acknowledged there is no evidence it does harm.
In September, the panel recommended new restrictions on a combination shot that protects against chicken pox as well as measles, mumps and rubella. The panel also took the unprecedented step of not recommending vaccinations against COVID-19 — not even for high-risk populations such as the elderly — instead making them a matter of personal choice.
Several medical groups said the changes were not based on good evidence and advised doctors and patients to follow the guidelines that were in place previously.
Kulldorff moves to an HHS role
Kulldorff’s departure leaves the vaccination committee with 11 members.
It will now be headed by Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who, with his wife, operates a medical missionary organization called For Hearts and Souls. He appeared at a 2024 congressional hearing where he said an increase in cardiovascular disease in older teenagers and young adults should be attributed to vaccines.
Kulldorff is a Swedish-born biostatistician who co-authored the Great Barrington Statement, an October 2020 letter that argued that pandemic shutdowns had caused irreparable harm.
During his tenure as ACIP chair, the committee abandoned its traditional “evidence-to-recommendation” framework, which involved many months of analysis and discussion before proposals were presented to the full committee for a vote.
In his new role, Kulldorff will become chief science officer in HHS’s Office of Planning and Evaluation. Officials described the office as the department’s “internal think tank.”
“I look forward to contributing to science-based public health policies that will make America healthy again,” Kulldorff said in the HHS news release.
The committee is expected to vote on hepatitis vaccines
The vaccine committee is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday in Atlanta to vote on whether to change the recommendation on newborn vaccines against hepatitis B, which can cause serious liver infections.
But it’s unclear what exactly the committee plans to vote on. HHS officials did not respond to repeated inquiries seeking details.
Current recommendations call for a first dose to be given to newborns within 24 hours of birth.
Last week, 15 state governors submitted public comments suggesting the committee hurt public confidence in vaccines and people’s ability to get affordable vaccines.
In adults, the virus is spread through sex or by sharing needles while injecting drugs. But the virus can also be passed to a baby from an infected mother, and up to 90 percent of infected infants have chronic infections that can lead to lifelong health problems.
A hepatitis B vaccine was first licensed in the US in 1981. In 2005, the ACIP recommended a dose within 24 hours of birth for all medically stable infants weighing at least 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms).
Infant shots are 85% to 95% effective in preventing chronic hepatitis B infections, studies have shown.
Vaccinations are considered a success, and experts say no recent peer-reviewed research shows any safety issues with giving babies in the first day of life.
But in September, Kennedy’s ACIP members debated whether to recommend delaying the initial vaccination — something doctors and parents can already choose to do. The group withdrew from the vote amid criticism from independent pediatrics and infectious disease experts, who say the vaccine is safe and has helped sharply reduce infections in infants.
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