External groups are organized to form a panel of independent impartial vaccines

Following the decision of the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to shake up a federal federal vaccination advisory committee, external medical organizations and independent experts are looking for other sources of impartial information and even plan to train their own group.

One of the main competitors is a new group led by Michael Osterholm, an expert in infectious diseases and 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 Consultative Commission for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccination practices.

“We have always taken for granted that the routine vaccinations of children and other vaccines would be easily available and that they would be supported by the public health system,” said Osterholm. “Now it’s in question.”

Earlier this month, Kennedy pulled the 17 members of the AIPINow in their place of eight new members, many of whom have expressed vaccination skeptical opinions or pandemic restrictions interviewed. Kennedy himself has A long history of anti-vaccination activism.

The American Academy of Pediatrics called the new members of the ACIP “Radical departure “ of the committee’s mission to protect children.

The AIPI has an important influence on vaccinations in the United States; The panel is responsible for fixing the vaccination calendar on childhood and determining which vaccines are given free of charge as part of the Vaccines for Children program. His recommendations guide what vaccinations are necessary to attend public school and what the-credit insurance covers.

“The real risk is that families and patients do not have access to vaccines” if the panel makes changes to their recommendations, said Dr. Molly O’Shea, pediatrician in Michigan.

“The ramifications are deep,” said Dr. Michelle Taylor, pediatrician and director of the health department of the county of Shelby in Memphis, Tennessee. “Any school system that requires vaccinations for school entry Research these ACIP recommendations, either directly from the CDC, the Ministry of Education, if they are filtered there, either in their local or state health services.”

CIDRAP now consults several medical organizations and public health groups – notably the AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American Pharmacist Association, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, as well as the insurers – to discuss Vaccine recommendations.

Insurance companies are based on the ACIP directives on the vaccines to be covered. But if sufficient renowned public health groups offer recommendations different from those of the AIPI, Osterholm said that these groups could influence insurance companies on shots.

Although Vaccination rates have slipped In recent years, the vast majority of American families vaccine their children. THE CDC reported that 92.7% Kindergarten children from the 2023-24 school year had received their childhood routine vaccines.

Parents depend on the advice of pediatricians on shots and when. These pediatricians rely on the advice of the CDC.

“Pediatricians have only one goal, and it is to keep each child in good health and safety in each community. This is what we wake up every morning. “If pediatricians do not defend what children and families deserve and need, then who?”

Some major medical organizations express their concerns about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine actions.

THE American Medical Association asked the congress to investigate the treatment of Kennedy of the ACIP.

States also take measures.

The Wisconsin Ministry of Health Services has made the HHS declaration that the The federal government would no longer recommend coastal plans For healthy children and pregnant women. “Recent changes in CDC guidelines have not been made on the basis of new data, new evidence or scientific or medical studies, any more than the directives were published after normal processes”, the Ministry of State of the State of the State written in a press release.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has criticized the elimination of the ACIP by Kennedy, say on x that the secretary had a “misunderstanding of the way in which the functioning of trials against vaccines”.

APIP approach

The AIPI was trained in 1972 as an independent expert panel to educate the federal government on vaccines. The Committee – Composed of experts such as pediatricians, geriatricians, doctors of infectious diseases, immunologists and vaccinologists – A Three regular meetings per year Poore on evidence of new or updated vaccines.

All meetings are open to the public and are broadcast online.

The panel can also be summoned outside of these regular meetings. During the pandemic coded, for example, the committee examined rare reports of a heart problem called Myocarditis in some young men Who had the cocovid shot. The Committee too Recommended against the vaccine codes Johnson & Johnson After being linked to rare but potentially fatal blood clots.

The recommendations of the AIPI are generally adopted by the director of the CDC.

But there is no CDC director for the moment. The choice of President Donald Trump for the post, Susan MonarezAt a confirmation audience scheduled for the Senate on June 25 – on the same day, the new members of the AIPI of Kennedy will meet for the first time.

As head of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Kennedy is the ultimate authority and has the capacity to replace the ACIP recommendations. He has fallen this muscle rarely used in May by announcing – without any entry of the ACIP – that the The hairstyle vaccine would no longer be recommended For healthy children and pregnant women.

The members of the APIP have historically crossed an in -depth verification process to ensure their expertise. If members have conflicts of interest, they challenge themselves.

An HHS spokesman said it was Eight new ACIP members were carefully checked, but did not offer details. Two members, Dr. Martin Kulldorff and Dr. Robert Malone, have already been paid experts in trials involving Merck vaccines. Another, Vicky Pebsworth, witnessed an expert in a federal trial brought by activists who sought to ban infant vaccination mandates. The case was rejected in 2021.

Vaccine skepticism is not necessarily a bad thing. “Real scientists ask critical questions in a way that does not presume the answer,” said O’Shea de l’Aap. “What made America, however, is our medical and scientific innovation. To saper that concerns me seriously. “