After RFK Jr. overhauls CDC panel, measles and flu vaccines are up for debate

With ardent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the country’s top health position, use of a long-approved vaccine against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella/chickenpox (MMRV) as well as flu shots that include the preservative thimerosal will now be reevaluated, putting their future availability and use in question. The development seemingly continues to vindicate health experts’ worst fears that, as health secretary, Kennedy would attack and dismantle the federal government’s scientifically rigorous, evidence-based vaccine recommendations.

Discussions of the two types of vaccines now appear on the agenda of a meeting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) scheduled for two days next week (June 25 and 26).

ACIP’s overhaul

On June 9, Kennedy summarily fired all 17 members of ACIP, who were rigorously vetted—esteemed scientists and clinicians in the fields of immunology, epidemiology, pediatrics, obstetrics, internal and family medicine, geriatrics, infectious diseases, and public health. Two days later, Kennedy installed eight new members, many with dubious qualifications and several known to hold anti-vaccine views.

Before ACIP was upended by Kennedy, the committee planned to meet for three days, from June 25 to 27, to discuss a wide array of vaccines, including those against anthrax, chikungunya, COVID-19, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Human papillomavirus (HPV), influenza, Lyme disease, meningococcal disease, pneumococcal disease, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The committee was going to vote on recommendations for the use of COVID-19 vaccines, the HPV vaccine, influenza vaccines, the meningococcal vaccine, RSV vaccines for adults, and the RSV vaccine for maternal and pediatric populations.

In the new agenda, discussion on vaccines against CMV, HPV, Lyme disease, meningococcal disease, and pneumococcal disease has been dropped. So have votes for COVID-19 vaccines, HPV, meningococcal vaccines, and RSV vaccines for adults. Instead, the new ACIP will now discuss MMRV and influenza vaccines containing thimerosal. It will only vote on two matters: RSV vaccines for children and pregnant people, and influenza vaccines, including thimerosal-containing flu vaccines.