Outside groups organize to form unbiased, independent vaccine panel
Source: NBC News
June 22, 2025, 5:45 AM EDT
In the wake of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to shake up a key federal vaccine advisory committee, outside medical organizations and independent experts are looking for alternate sources of unbiased information and even considering forming a group of their own.
A leading contender is a new group led by Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert and the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. Osterholm is launching the Vaccine Integrity Project at CIDRAP as a potential alternative to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
“We’ve always just taken for granted that routine child immunizations and other vaccines would be readily available and that they would be supported by the public health system,” Osterholm said. “Now that’s in question.”
Earlier this month, Kennedy fired all 17 members from ACIP, appointing in their place eight new members, many of whom have expressed vaccine-skeptical views or questioned pandemic restrictions. Kennedy himself has a long history of anti-vaccination activism. The American Academy of Pediatrics has called the new ACIP members a “radical departure” from the committee’s mission of protecting kids.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/groups-organize-form-unbiased-independent-vaccine-panel-rcna212468
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