New CDC vaccine advisers meet to discuss COVID-19, RSV shots

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(25 Jun 2025)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Atlanta - 25 June 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Kulldorf, ACIP Chair:
"Secretary Kennedy has given this committee a clear mandate to use evidence-based medicine for making vaccine recommendations and that is what we will do. Vaccines are not all good or bad If you think that all vaccines are safe and effective and want them all or if you think that all vaccines are dangerous and don't want any of them then you don't have much use for us. You already know what you want. But if you wish to know which vaccines are suitable for you and your children and at what ages then we will provide you with evidence-based recommendations."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Kulldorf, ACIP Chair:
"Uh some media outlets have been very harsh on new members of this committee. Issuing false accusations and making concerted efforts of the scientists in either a pro or anti-vaccine box. Such labels undermine critical scientific inquiry. And further feeds the flames of vaccine hesitancy. As Senator Kennedy has eloquently stated, opposing mercury and fish does not make you anti-fish and opposing mercury and vaccines does not make you anti-vaccine."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Kulldorf, ACIP Chair:
"Lastly I wish to address my fellow scientists in the audience. It is no secret to anyone in this room that confidence in public health institutions including CDC, FDA, NIH and university leadership failed during the pandemic and that it is at an all time low. Most scientists are honestly seeking the truth in their research and that includes scientist here at CDC. We must work to rebuild integrity and trust and we do that by honestly recognizing past mistakes, adhering to evidence based medicine and encouraging open scientific discourse, as uncomfortable as that may be."
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STORYLINE:
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers began their first meeting Wednesday under intense scrutiny from medical experts worried about Americans’ access to lifesaving shots.

First on the agenda is an awkward scenario: Kennedy already announced COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women, and his new advisers aren’t scheduled to vote on whether they agree. Yet government scientists prepared meeting materials calling vaccination “the best protection” during pregnancy — and said most children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were unvaccinated.

COVID-19 remains a public health threat, resulting in 32,000 to 51,000 U.S. deaths and more than 250,000 hospitalizations since last fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most at risk for hospitalization are seniors and children under 2 — especially infants under 6 months who could have some protection if their mom got vaccinated during pregnancy, according to the CDC's presentation.

It’s one signal that this week’s two-day meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices isn’t business as usual.

Another sign: Shortly before the meeting, a Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist stepped down from the committee, bringing the panel's number to just seven. The Trump administration said Dr. Michael Ross withdrew during a customary review of members' financial holdings.





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