The new members will join the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for its meeting later this week to make recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the measles, hepatitis B, and COVID-19 vaccines.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the CDC announced Monday that they have appointed five new members to the panel, which plays a central role in shaping U.S. vaccine recommendations,
The new appointees will participate in ACIP’s meeting later this week to discuss guidance on vaccines for measles. mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV); Hepatitis B, and COVID-19.
This is the second wave of appointees to the committee. In June, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 members of the committee who were appointed during the Biden administration and replaced them with his selection of eight members. One member withdrew from the committee prior to its first meeting in which the seven panelists approved a vaccine to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) but against flu vaccines that contained the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.
The latest members, Kennedy said in the announcement, bring “diverse expertise that strengthens the committee and ensures it fulfills its mission with transparency, independence, and gold-standard science.”
The new members include:
- Catherine M. Stein, Ph.D., professor, department of population & quantitative health, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. The announcement describes Stein as an epidemiologist who has conducted extensive research on tuberculosis and infectious diseases.
- Evelyn Griffin, M.D., obstetrician and gynecologist, Baton Rouge General Hospital, Baton Rouge, La., who is among the first robotic-assisted gynecologic surgeons in the U.S. and has led efforts to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
- Kirk Milhoan, M.D., Ph.D., medical director, For Hearts and Souls Free Medical Clinic, Kihei, Hawaii. He is described as a pediatric cardiologist and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, with two combat tours in Iraq. He co-founded For Hearts and Souls, an international mission organization for children with congenital heart disease and has coordinated pediatric cardiac care in more than a dozen countries.
- Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, M.B.A., director of medication access and affordability, AscensionRx, St. Louis, where she leads initiatives to optimize medication access for underserved populations and improve affordability in value-based care.
- Raymond Pollak, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.R.C.S. a surgeon, transplant immunobiologist, and transplant specialist, who has published more than 120 peer-reviewed works and served as principal investigator on NIH transplant biology grants and numerous drug trials.
Controversy, leadership changes continue to stir debate
The overhaul of the ACIP raised concerns among public health officials who argued that some of Kennedy’s initial replacements shared his views on vaccines, were critical of COVID-19 interventions ,and lacked expertise in immunology and vaccinology. None of the newly appointed members have expertise in vaccines, according to MedPage Today.
Kennedy maintains that these changes are necessary to restore confidence in vaccine policy, which he says has been undermined by public distrust and perceived conflicts of interest within federal health agencies.
In an interview with NPR, Pollak said that having non-vaccine experts on the panel could be beneficial. "I think it's a value to have broad representation of the community at large, both with and without the necessary expertise in order to formulate policy that makes sense to everybody," he told the publication.
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Monday’s appointments come amid ongoing scrutiny of Kennedy’s broader leadership of HHS and the CDC. Susan Monarez, Ph.D., who briefly served as CDC director before being removed after 29 days, is set to testify this week before a Senate panel. Monarez claims her departure stemmed from her refusal to preapprove vaccine recommendations from the ACIP. Kennedy has disputed her account, saying he lost confidence in her leadership during a high-level meeting.
Her exit triggered the resignations of four senior CDC officials, including former chief medical officer Debra Houry, M.D., who is also scheduled to testify before the Senate panel on Wednesday.