The first meeting of CDC vaccine advisers is still going strong
Vaccine Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The First Public Meeting Since President Trump’s Inauguration During a White Paper
“What I don’t want to see go away is a very strong endorsement of the use of vaccines as preventive medicine,” says Dr. Anthony Fiore, a former CDC official who worked closely with the vaccine advisory committee before retiring from the agency in 2021.
Despite concerns that the administration might meddle with a committee of vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, their first public meeting since President Trump’s inauguration followed its usual course.
“I am very reassured and happy to see that it is happening”, says the association’s executive director. It is important that the review of data and science is done in an open forum.
During this week’s meeting, the committee’s independent advisors will listen to the recommendations from the staff of the CDC on vaccines and vote on them for some of them such asRSV and flu.
When asked about the change, HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard responded on behalf of CDC: “ACIP agenda items are always subject to change depending on what the working groups have ready for consideration.” She added that it was not a vote to use the vaccine for the upcoming season.
The advisors are volunteer experts who serve on the committee. At UC San Francisco, Dorit Reiss is a law professor who expects her students to be independent and to always hold thoughtful, rigorous discussions.
CDC staff “bias in our estimates” during a meeting on COVID, and ill-preparedness to follow-up
President Trump has slashed the CDC staff since taking office, including some officials who would have participated in this week’s meeting.
“I’ll be watching to see if they change the process in anything,” he says. She will be keeping an eye on how conflicts of interest are handled, and whether the time limits on discussion among committee members are put in place.
The newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist” was written by Jetelina, who is an epidemiologist and data scientist. “For those of us who have listened to hundreds of ACIP meetings to report back whether or not it is just business as usual or there’s some sketch things beneath the surface, what it may take is,” she says.
The HHS postponed the meeting in February because they wanted to accommodate the public’s comments prior to the meeting.
Høeg asked about “bias in our estimates” in a presentation on influenza vaccine efficacy, arguing that vaccinated people may be overrepresented because they may be more likely to seek out testing. CDC staff said that their studies are designed to account for bias. The impact of bias is small and the estimates are accurate, according to Dr. Frutos.
Høeg has questioned vaccine safety, and she raised concerns in this week’s meeting. Following a presentation on a study of the mpox vaccine in teens, Høeg said: “They excluded adolescents with underlying significant heart conditions and significant medical conditions. So I think it’s important for providers to keep in mind that … we don’t really know about the safety in those adolescents.”
Tracy Beth Heg is a special assistant to the commissioner, who has criticized the CDC for suggesting school closings during COVID. She took the liaison seat because Dr. Peter Marks had to leave the FDA in March.
Over 600 cases have been reported across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma due to the outbreak. There are a number of requests coming in from Texas, said Dr. David Sugerman, a senior scientist at the CDC. The state recently lost several hundred million dollars in public health funding, in a federal clawback of COVID funds that began late last month. “The estimates are that each measles case can be $30,000-$50,000 for public health response work, and that adds up quite quickly,” he said.
The ACIP Working Group – Summary Report on Vaccines for the United States and the Challenge of the Trump Administration with Influence on Health Research and Policy
Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to expand the options for meningococcal vaccines and to lower the age of recommendation for RSV vaccines to include people aged 50 to 59 with certain risk factors. They recommended that travelers and laboratory workers who are most likely to be exposed to the tropical disease chikungunya should get a vaccine.
On the first day, members sat through presentations of data and models for a range of vaccines including mpox to flu, while on the second day they asked questions to sharpen their assessments of the risks and benefits. The meeting got weedy at times, as the presenters and committee members dug into technical details, which is typical.
The committee had been scheduled to meet in February, but the event was postponed shortly after the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CDC. Concerns were raised about interference after the postponement.
The proceedings of ACIP have begun again and give the American public a window into the future of the nation’s vaccine policy, according to the senator from Delaware. The public deserves to know what’s going on when America faces a measles outbreak and a changing political landscape.
“It seems as though business is going on as usual,” Jetelina said in her newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.”
Still, Jetelina said, there were nuances that reflect changes made by the Trump administration over the past few months. Trump’s team has made deep cuts to funding and resources for public health. The administratione also elevated individuals who have long questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccines, despite strong evidence supporting them, into positions of influence over research and policy.
From the beginning, some effects were visible. There were technical problems at the beginning of the meeting that needed a link to the public stream. “As you have already seen, there have been some changes with the recent reductions in force including our communications group, so I ask that you please be patient with us,” said Dr. Keipp Talbot, professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky.
Some committee members thought the cuts were top of mind. Charlotte Moser, co-director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, probed for declines in CDC’s ability to evaluate how safe vaccines are, and how well they work.
Are all the data collection systems still funded to actively collect data through the season and into next season? Moser asked after the presentation on the efficacy of the vaccine. Three of the four flu vaccine networks will operate, and one will be shut down, according to CDC epidemiologist Sascha Ellington.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is holding its first meeting after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. During this week’s meeting, the vaccine advisory committee’s independent advisors will listen to the recommendations from the staff of the CDC on vaccines and vote on them for some of them such asRSV and flu.