New Trump administration vaccines advisors supported flu vaccines for almost every American on Thursday – but only if they use some preservative shots, which has been safely used in vaccines for decades.
What is usually a routine step in preparing for the upcoming flu season attracted intensive control after US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Suddenly he dismissed the influential 17-person Advisory Committee for Vaccination Practices (ACIP) and handmade substitutes that include several vaccination skeptics.
The seven-person panel broke another norm on Thursday, when he discussed the security of conservative used in less than five percent of American flu vaccination: he met only on the basis of a presentation from the former leader of the anti-part group-not allowing ordinary public emissions of scientific data from American control and disease prevention centers.
Maintenance, Thimerosal, has been used for decades in some vaccines, which are in multiple vads to prevent pollution as the dose was withdrawn as it was withdrawn. His controversy result from the conclusion of a small amount of a specific type of mercury. However, their own CDC data show that they are secure, and on Friday the World Health Organization stated in a press briefing that there is no risk evidence.
“Thimeras has been repeatedly checked by many agencies, including WHO, and it results from evidence that there is no evidence to damage using timerosalization,” Dr. Katherine O'Brien from WHO told journalists in response to the decision of the US panel.
Thimerosal contains a small amount of ethyl mercury, which quickly breaks down in the body and is quickly removed, as opposed to methyl mercury, a type of mercury found in an environment that can accumulate in the body and cause damage. In Canada, a handful of flu vaccines with many doses approved for use by Health Canada contains thimerosal, but the vast majority of routine childhood vaccines are not.
Shots in a single dose of flu
After the study, the study did not show evidence that Timerosal causes autism, a myth long pushed by vaccination groups or is any security threats. However, since 2001, all vaccines used for children aged 6 or younger were already in Thimerosal -free formulas.
The advisory panel voted in favor of repeating the usual recommendation in the US so that almost all of the age of six months and elders would receive annual vaccination vaccination, but then voted 5-1 with one suspension that they had to be thimerosal free preparations.
This would include unanimous shots, which are already the most common type of flu vaccination and exclude a subset of flu vaccine issued in vials many times old.
“There is still no evidence to the detriment,” one panelist, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist earlier from the National Institutes of Health, said, recognizing that the committee did not follow the usual practice of acting based on evidence.
But he argued that “we must respect the fear of mercury”, which he said, may discourage some people from vaccination.
The panel blocked the CDC analysis
Lyn Redwood, previously the health defense of children in Kennedy's anti-seal group, presented a presentation about Thimerosal before the panel, arguing that it was neurotoxin.
Redwood presentation version published on the CDC website at the beginning of this week initially It included a reference to the study that does not exist. The report she gave to the committee was much shorter, removing the reference to this study and another slide, saying that she had no conflicts of interest.
“Together with voting on Thimerosal this afternoon, the new committee transformed the ACIP process into a farce,” said the former CDC vaccine advisor, Dr. Fiona Havers, who resigned last week because of Kennedy's changes in vaccine policy.
Medical groups have condemned the lack of transparency of the panel in blocking the CDC Thimerosal analysis, which stated that there was no connection between preservative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. The data was published on the Committee's website on Tuesday, but later they were deleted – because, according to ACIP member Dr. Robert Malone, the report was not authorized by Kennedy's office. The panel members said that they read it.
ACIP helps CDC to determine who should be vaccinated on a long list of diseases, and when, and its recommendations have a great impact on the availability and insurance of vaccine in the USA
Usually, the CDC director will decide whether to accept the ACIP recommendation, but the Senate has not yet confirmed the candidate Susan Monarez. Administrative officials said Kennedy would make this decision.
While the Thursday debate covered only a small part of flu vaccines, some public health experts claim that the discussion unnecessarily raised doubts as to the safety of the vaccine. Already less than half of the Americans receive annual flu vaccinations, and general distrust in vaccines is growing.
“Selective use of data and omission of established science undermines public trust and drives disinformation,” said Dr. Sean O'leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He said about new panelists: “Nothing about their recent activities was based on science or transparent.”
The new study published in Lancet Medical Journal suggests that childhood vaccinations have staggered or fell since 2010. The authors say that geopolitical instability fuels a decrease in some countries, but disinformation largely causes a decrease in high -income countries.
The Pediatrics Group announced on Wednesday that they would no longer participate in ACIP meetings, and the president of Sue Kressly said in video A statement that “in the event of release of the Committee is no longer a reliable process.” AAP will continue to publish its own vaccination recommendations.
The influenza voices meant the last stage of a two-day meeting, in which the groups of pediatricians and other doctors worried, who indicated the lack of specialist knowledge of new panelists in the correct tracking of the safety of the vaccine-and the change, which seems to increase anti-dialectal messages.
Particular fears were the announcement of the chairman of the panel Martin Kulldorff about the re -assessment of the “cumulative effect” of the vaccine schedule for children – vaccination lists given at different times in childhood. This reflects the scientifically refuted belief that today children receive too much vaccinations for their immune systems.
