The following is a transcript interview with former FDA commissioner Scott Gotlib, Pfizer Board and Executive Chairman of the Council in Illumina, who broadcast “Fare The Nation from Margaret Brennan” on June 29, 2025.
Margaret Brennan: Now look at some public health policy in America under the Trump administration, former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gotlib, who is sitting on the Pfizer Council and is now chairman of the Illumina Council. Good morning. Nice to see you.
Dr. Scott Gotlib: Good morning.
Margaret Brennan: You know, Dr. Gotlib, you worked in the first Trump administration. This second Trump administration seems very different in its approach to public health on many fronts. This week, one of them was really naked with this recently converted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice or ACIP. The secretary Kennedy dismissed about 17 members of the existing board and introduced some members of his own choice. And in the video, the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that the Federal Immunization Policy was a quote, “no reliable process”, and this is politicized at the expense of children. This is a pretty amazing statement. Do you agree with the Academy of Pediatrics?
D -r. Gottlieb: Listen, you're right. I worked in the first Trump administration. I was lucky to do so and proudly serve in this administration. I think we've done many important health things. We presided over the first coordination of cellular and gene therapy. The President tried to expand access to these treatments through the right to try the legislation he acted. He supported the FDA, trying to try to avoid tobacco from the hands of children, a record number of general approval and many other achievements. I think a lot of people on my side of the political passage believe that many such politicians, which Secretary Kennedy is engaged in the vaccine and do not bleed in a wider doctrine. I think it's not. I think there are many people now who do not believe that these things are particularly political or should not be, and do not believe that these decisions should be politically resolved, which are going to find when they go to the doctor's office that the vaccines they can protect their lives or their families will not be available. This is really like a political process. The secretary goes on the issues that have long been Bugaboos from him and his anti-Wax, “Children's Health Protection”. I don't think this is wrong at this point. I think he probably admits it. What it takes the problems it has been in the last 20 years to limit access to certain vaccines. It will grow. The list is growing and it will start to be very sensitive to people and go beyond a simple vaccine that is, I think, what most people think when they perceive this administration or the secretary's efforts to try to restrict access to the vaccines.
Margaret Brennan: So, one of the specific things from this meeting was tips to avoid flu vaccines containing an ingredient called Thimerosal. Approximately at the same time as the meeting, the CDC removed information from its site, which debunked that the ingredient was related to autism. Secretary Kennedy says these are journalists who obscure the truth. What do you need to know about the flu vaccine and this ingredient?
D -r. Gottlieb: Yes, so it's an old ingredient. First of all, it is a preservative used in multidose vials of the flu vaccine. Only a very small percentage of flu vials still hold it. What is an ingredient that is added to multidoses vials because the vials you are going to enter and go out with different needles when you enter the vaccine for different patients. So they are not one -off injections. They are a lot of doses that are mainly used in some busy clinics, almost exclusively in adults. Back in the early 2000s, I was in the FDA when we reformulated the vaccine, so we forced the manufacturers to repaint the vaccines to bring this preservative. Not because we thought it was dangerous, but because there was a lot of embarrassment among the anti-vaxine groups, which thought there was a connection between this ingredient and autism. The ingredient really contains a small amount of ethylusic rather than methylum, ethylmer, which is the same type of mercury in fish, in very small amounts. And so we made the manufacturers reformulate the vast majority of vaccines, still four percent of the flu vaccines that are introduced, mainly for adults, from these multidox vials. It has long been the Bugaba secretary and his group, the Children's Defense Fund. In fact, the only presentation at the Acip meeting was from the head of this group. And you are right that CDC officials have been conducted a counter -analysis that claims that there is no connection between Timerosal and Autism. This analysis was removed from the site. The secretary issued a statement saying that it was not a proper consideration.
Margaret Brennan: We're going to take a break, Dr. Gotlib, and more talk to you on the other side of this. These are the complex questions I want to bury with you. So we hope all you will stay with us.
(Ad)
Margaret Brennan: Welcome to the nation. We return to our conversation with former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gotlib. Dr. Gotlyib, to just pick up a backup, we talked about a meeting that took place last week with the recently restored immunization Advisory Committee. Republican Senator Bill Casidi, you know him, he is a doctor. He also has the supervision of the Chairman of the Committee on Health. He urged to cancel the meeting because he said there was no CDC director. And when it comes to these appointed ones, he said that many of them do not have significant experience of studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology “and they can” prevent bias “against mRNAs. I am not a doctor, but it seems to me that the experience of immunology would be important if you advise. Need to quickly force the CDC director in place?
D -r. Gotlib: Yes, this week, the CDC director held confirmation, and hopefully she will soon become in place. I think she's pretty strong and good choice for this job. Tip, this Acip board is not fully composed. Only seven members are in the board. He has about 15 in his peak member. And you are right, many people who have been appointed are not deep experience or any experience, frankly, in the science of the vaccine. These are people who were ideologically aligned with secretary Kennedy in the past and worked with him, many of them, not all of them. And I think this is not that even the secretary would probably have disputed at this time, and it has led to some inconvenient points at this meeting. For example, you know, one member had to explain to him the difference between antibodies and vaccine prevention. So, there were data in the discussion when CDC directors had to provide some, frankly, correction of assistance to help inform these members based on the science of the vaccine science. So it showed, hope if they completely make up this board, you are going to get more balance. I think some people are skeptical. I still hope that there will be good members who are sitting in the end.
Margaret Brennan: You know, one of the things about the American health system is a matter of long innovation. Earlier this month, the FDA approved twice for the annual injection of the HIV prevention drug called Lenakapavir. How important is such an innovation, and given the environment you are talking about, will these new advisers be able to get such things on the market?
D -r. Gotlib: Yes, it should not come to Acip. So, it's therapeutic. It is a long acting antivirus that provides six months of HIV protection and has been extremely effective for preventing HIV in the population, which was a high risk of HIV infection. Thus, it is a change in the formulation of the antiviral, which allows it to be administered only twice a year and to ensure a stable effect of the advantages of this antiviral. We see a lot of similar innovations. This week was also news from a small biotechnology company that I do not participate in the fact that they developed pills that could provide stable influenza protection. So, it is antivirus, but it is formulated in this way, if it can be introduced once before the flu season to provide protection throughout the season and also looks very effective. So we see a lot of such innovations. I am concerned about this innovation in the science of the vaccine. I work on the side of the venture capital where we are making investments in new companies, and there has been a bio-score startup startups that have sought to develop new vaccines, such as Epstein Bar vaccines, which we know, related to certain lymph lymph. This is a new science, the potential for vaccination of children against this, as we are now grafted by children against HPV and prevent cervical cancer and other cancers. Maybe in the future we can be vaccinated for EBV, but such investments have many returns. So I think that as a result of the environment in which we are, we will see less innovation in the science of the vaccine.
Margaret Brennan: This week, secretary Kennedy asked for declarations in some states to start removing fluoride from the water. Oklahoma took some steps in this direction. He said you would see “probably a little more cavity”, but “there is a direct back correlation between the amount of fluorine in your water and IQ loss.” What do parents think about when they hear such things?
D -r. Gotlib: Well, look, it was a long question, another question that secretary Kennedy was in favor of his career, it is a perception that there is a connection between fluorine and water and some neurotoxic effect. It was carefully studied. I think it was completely decayed. The water has a very small amount of fluorine, and at the level that it is invested in the water supply, it is indicated that it is safe. The CDC has data that shows that by 25% decrease in caries as a result of fluorine, which is regularly added to the water supply. This is not only a matter of increasing dental cavities, but also the health of the oral cavity as a whole, which, as we know, is related to systemic health.
Margaret Brennan: Dr. Gotlib, good to get his understanding today. We'll be back right back.