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Kennedy’s New Vaccine Panel to Vote on Thimerosal, RSV Shots and MMRV Use

The eight-member ACIP convenes June 25 under new leadership after the abrupt dismissal of 17 experts.

The first meeting of eight newly installed vaccine advisers to the CDC will start on Wednesday.
KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 03: Enbal Sabag, a Nurse Practitioner, prepares a flu vaccination for a patient at the CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic on September 03, 2020 in Key Biscayne, Florida. Flu shots are available at the nearly 10,000 CVS pharmacies and approximately 100 MinuteClinic locations across the country. Heath experts say getting the flu shot this year is important because the dangers of having COVID-19 and the flu simultaneously are still unknown. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Overview

  • Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the previous 17 ACIP members last week citing conflicts of interest and appointed eight new advisers.
  • The panel’s June 25–26 agenda includes a discussion and vote on thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that the CDC says poses no harm at low doses.
  • Advisers will consider RSV immunization recommendations for pregnant women and children and evaluate the combined MMRV vaccine for children under 5.
  • Public health experts have voiced concern over several new members who have served as expert witnesses against vaccine manufacturers and questioned vaccine safety.
  • Since 1999 the FDA has removed most thimerosal from pediatric vaccines and the CDC emphasizes that ethylmercury in vaccines is cleared rapidly and has no proven link to autism.