Top Vaccine Adviser Says Fired CDC Head Never Once Approached Him With Policy Concerns
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez never contacted the chair of the vaccine advisory committee at the center of her high-profile dispute with Health and Human Services…
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez never contacted the chair of the vaccine advisory committee at the center of her high-profile dispute with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the chair said Thursday.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — outside scientists who discuss scientific studies and make recommendations to the CDC on the routine vaccination schedules for children and adults — meets Thursday and Friday. The ACIP’s recommendations inform which shots are reimbursed by health plans.
In opening remarks at Thursday’s meeting, ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorff stated that Monarez never bothered to contact the ACIP before the animated argument with Kennedy that preceded her firing and the resignations of three top CDC officials.
“A few weeks ago, the CDC director was removed and three members of the CDC leadership resigned citing divergent opinions about vaccines. On vaccines, this committee is the key advisor to the CDC director, but during her short tenure she never contacted me as the ACIP chair about any of her questions or concerns, which would have been natural if she had had such concerns,” he said. “Neither were we contacted by any of the CDC officials who subsequently resigned.”
The three other CDC officials who resigned also never contacted the ACIP with concerns. Kulldorff also said he has worked productively with other CDC staff.
The revelation follows testimony Monarez gave before a Senate committee Wednesday in which she stressed concerns about the ACIP as central to her break with her former boss. Kennedy booted all 17 members of the ACIP on June 9. Kennedy has long been critical of the committee as compromised by ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Monarez testified that she began hearing concerns that Kennedy’s new appointees to the ACIP would change the childhood vaccination schedule on Aug. 2, two days after her swearing in.