.JPG)
HHS said experts will still be included but not based on their organization.
ByYouri Benadjaoud
August 1, 2025,
Fired CDC vaccine committee member on RFK Jr.'s decision to purge independent panelDr. Noel Brewer is a former voting member of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and talks about his firing Monday after an announcement by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Multiple medical groups say they have been barred from working on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's panel of vaccine advisers.
It comes weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the original panel of independent experts and replaced them with his own handpicked members -- many of whom have expressed skeptical views on vaccines.
Liaisons representing major medical groups were historically invited to meetings of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) as non-voting members to provide their independent expertise in respective fields. In a joint statement, the groups said they have now been excluded "from the process of reviewing scientific evidence end informing vaccine recommendations."
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an event with President Donald Trump on improving Americans' access to their medical records in the East Room of the White House, July 30, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
MORE: Members of CDC vaccine panel ousted by RFK Jr. say committee has 'lost credibility'
A total of eight groups signed on to the statement, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association among others.
In a statement provided to ABC News, an HHS spokesperson said: "Under the old ACIP, outside pressure to align with vaccine orthodoxy limited asking the hard questions. The old ACIP members were plagued by conflicts of interest, influence, and bias. We are fulfilling our promise to the American people to never again allow those conflicts to taint vaccine recommendations."
The statement went on to say: "Experts will continue to be included based on relevant experience and expertise, not because of what organization they are with.
MORE: CDC vaccine advisers who were removed from committee by RFK Jr. speak out
In their statement, the medical organizations said they learned the groups will be excluded from the panel's work in an email late Thursday and noted they were "deeply disappointed and alarmed" by the move.
"To remove our deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation's health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccines," the statement read.
Childhood vaccination rates fall for 5th straight year: CDC
Exemptions for vaccines also hit a record high, increasing to 3.6%.
ByYouri Benadjaoud
August 1, 2025, ABC
Childhood vaccination rates for the 2024-25 school year fell for the fifth year in a row, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published Thursday.
Vaccine coverage for shots that protect against measles, polio, chickenpox, whooping cough and hepatitis B have now been under 95% -- a threshold many experts consider herd immunity -- since at least the 2020-2021 school year.
Exemptions for vaccines also hit a record high, increasing to 3.6% for the 2024-25 school year compared to 3.3% during the previous school year. The number of kindergarteners exempt from one or more vaccines was about 138,000.
"That gap, combined with concentrated pockets of exemptions, is exactly how sustained outbreaks gain a foothold," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and ABC News medical contributor. "Kindergarten vaccination rates are an early warning indicator. Persistent declines predict conditions for more frequent and larger outbreaks are already in place."
Exemptions increased in 36 states, with 17 states reporting exemption rates exceeding 5%, according to the CDC data. Nearly all the exemptions were listed as non-medical, typically related to religious or personal reasons.
STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images
"The surge in non-medical exemptions reflects a growing influence of misinformation and shifting policy. When these beliefs concentrate geographically, they erode the very network of immunity that protects all children," Brownstein said.
An estimated 92.5% of kindergarteners were vaccinated with the polio vaccine as well as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, leaving an estimated 286,000 vulnerable to the diseases.
It comes as the U.S. is seeing the highest number of measles cases since 1992, with dozens of outbreaks reported across the country, CDC data shows.
About 94% of kindergartners were vaccinated against hepatitis B. Even fewer children were vaccinated against chickenpox and whooping cough with rates at 92.1%, according to the data.
MORE: Medical groups sue HHS, RFK Jr. over 'unlawful' vaccine changes
Last year saw a record level of whooping cough cases, with more than 35,000 cases reported -- roughly six times as many cases compared to 2023.
Federal health officials in the Trump administration have also recently shifted messaging around vaccination, now pushing for personal choice -- advocating that parents should decide whether or not to immunize their kids.
"Public health messaging has shifted in ways that place personal choice ahead of community protection. When federal leadership softens its stance on vaccination, it can accelerate hesitancy and legitimize non medical exemptions, further weakening population level immunity," Brownstein said.
"As pediatricians, we know that immunizing children helps them stay healthy, and when everyone can be immunized, it's harder for diseases to spread in our communities," Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement. "By making sure all children can access immunizations before entering school with their classmates, children are best able to stay healthy to play, learn, and grow."
Exemptions for vaccines also hit a record high, increasing to 3.6%.
ByYouri Benadjaoud
August 1, 2025, ABC
Childhood vaccination rates for the 2024-25 school year fell for the fifth year in a row, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published Thursday.
Vaccine coverage for shots that protect against measles, polio, chickenpox, whooping cough and hepatitis B have now been under 95% -- a threshold many experts consider herd immunity -- since at least the 2020-2021 school year.
Exemptions for vaccines also hit a record high, increasing to 3.6% for the 2024-25 school year compared to 3.3% during the previous school year. The number of kindergarteners exempt from one or more vaccines was about 138,000.
"That gap, combined with concentrated pockets of exemptions, is exactly how sustained outbreaks gain a foothold," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and ABC News medical contributor. "Kindergarten vaccination rates are an early warning indicator. Persistent declines predict conditions for more frequent and larger outbreaks are already in place."
Exemptions increased in 36 states, with 17 states reporting exemption rates exceeding 5%, according to the CDC data. Nearly all the exemptions were listed as non-medical, typically related to religious or personal reasons.
STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images
"The surge in non-medical exemptions reflects a growing influence of misinformation and shifting policy. When these beliefs concentrate geographically, they erode the very network of immunity that protects all children," Brownstein said.
An estimated 92.5% of kindergarteners were vaccinated with the polio vaccine as well as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, leaving an estimated 286,000 vulnerable to the diseases.
It comes as the U.S. is seeing the highest number of measles cases since 1992, with dozens of outbreaks reported across the country, CDC data shows.
About 94% of kindergartners were vaccinated against hepatitis B. Even fewer children were vaccinated against chickenpox and whooping cough with rates at 92.1%, according to the data.
MORE: Medical groups sue HHS, RFK Jr. over 'unlawful' vaccine changes
Last year saw a record level of whooping cough cases, with more than 35,000 cases reported -- roughly six times as many cases compared to 2023.
Federal health officials in the Trump administration have also recently shifted messaging around vaccination, now pushing for personal choice -- advocating that parents should decide whether or not to immunize their kids.
"Public health messaging has shifted in ways that place personal choice ahead of community protection. When federal leadership softens its stance on vaccination, it can accelerate hesitancy and legitimize non medical exemptions, further weakening population level immunity," Brownstein said.
"As pediatricians, we know that immunizing children helps them stay healthy, and when everyone can be immunized, it's harder for diseases to spread in our communities," Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement. "By making sure all children can access immunizations before entering school with their classmates, children are best able to stay healthy to play, learn, and grow."
No comments:
Post a Comment