A pivotal meeting on vaccine guidance is underway—and former CDC leaders are alarmed

Update Friday 6 a.m. ET: The consultant's CDC panel recommended that children under the age of 4 do not receive the combined MMRV vaccine (for measles, mumps, rubella and varicelles), but rather received two separate recordings instead. This week was an eventful for the America's public health authority. Two former leaders of the US centers for the control and prevention of diseases explained the reasons for their sudden deviations from the agency in a hearing in the Senate. And you describe how CDC employees are instructed to turn the scientific evidence of the back. The former director of the CDC, Susan Monarez and former Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, asked questions from a Senate Committee on Wednesday. You have painted a picture of a health authority in turbulence - and endangered to damage people that are supposed to serve. On Thursday, a consulting CDC committee that develops vaccine instructions met for a two-day discussion about several childhood vaccines. During the meeting, which went to the press in the course of the examination, the members of the committee should discuss these vaccines and propose recommendations for use. Monarez fears that access to vaccines in childhood is threatened - and that the consequences of public health could be bad. "If vaccine protection is weakened, avoidable diseases will return," she said. As the current secretary for health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. monitors the authorities for health and science of federal and science, to which the CDC includes public health and reacts to threats. Part of this role is to develop vaccine recommendations. As already mentioned, RFK Jr. has long been an important critic of vaccines. In the generally used ingredients for autism, he incorrectly made other false statements about risks associated with different vaccines. Nevertheless, he monitored the recruitment of Monarez - who does not share these beliefs - to lead the agency. When she was sworn in on July 31, Monarez, who is a microbiologist and immunologist, already worked as a deputy director of the agency. She also held prominent positions in other federal authorities and departments, including the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda). Kennedy described her as "Expert in Public Health with Independent Scientific Testimonations". His opinion seems to have changed a bit since then. Only 29 days after Monarez took over her position, she was rolled out of the agency. And in yesterday's hearing she explained why. On August 25th, Kennedy Monarez asked two things to do, she said. First, he wanted her to commit to dismiss scientists in the agency. Secondly, he wanted them to approved “before communication” of vaccination recommendations from the advisory committee for vaccination practices of the agency (ACIP), regardless of whether there were scientific evidence for these recommendations, she said. "He just wanted a flat -rate consent," she said during her certificate. She rejected both inquiries. Monarez said that she did not want to get rid of hardworking scientists who played an important role in the security of the Americans. And she said that she could not commit to approving vaccine recommendations without checking the scientific evidence and maintaining her integrity. It was released. These vaccine recommendations are currently being discussed, and scientists like Monarez are worried about how they could change. Kennedy released all 17 members of the previous committee in June. (Monarez said she had not been consulted with the shots and learned about it through media reports.) "A clean sweep is necessary to restore the public's trust in vaccine science", Kennedy wrote at that time in one piece for Wall Street Journal. He continued to replace people with eight new members, some of whom were prominent vaccine critics and spread misinformation about vaccines. One withdrew later. This new panel met two weeks later. The meeting included a presentation about Thimerosal - a chemical that Kennedy incorrectly made with autism and which is no longer contained in vaccines in the USA - and a suggestion, the recommendation of the MMRV vaccine (for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) is not offered for children under four years. Five new committee members were named at the beginning of this week. This includes people who have campaigned against vaccination mandates and have argued that mRNA-based covid vaccines should be removed from the market. All 12 members follow a meeting that takes place today and tomorrow. At this meeting, according to an agenda published on the CDC website, members will suggest recommendations for the MMRV vaccine and vaccines for covid-19 and hepatitis B. These are the recommendations for which Monarez says that she has been asked to give "a flat -rate approval". "My worst fear is that I would then be able to approve something that reduces access to life -saving vaccines for children and others they need," she said. This job now goes to Jim O’Neill, the deputy health minister and incumbent CDC director (also durability lover), who now has the authority to approve these recommendations. We still don't know what these recommendations will be. However, if you are approved, you could change access to vaccines for children and people in need of protection in the United States. As six former chairwoman of the Committee for Stat wrote: "Acip is in the vaccines for children, which vaccines vaccinated at no cost of approximately 50% of children in the USA and for the law on affordable care in the USA." Drops of vaccine intake have already contributed to this year's measles outbreak in the USA, which has been the largest in decades. Two children died. We already see the effects of the undermined trust in vaccines in childhood. As Monarez put it: "The missions are not theoretical." This article first appeared in the study of the weekly biotech newsletters from with Technology Review. To get it every Thursday in your inbox and first read items like this, register here.