The advisory panel has already strayed from norms and procedures designed to ensure scientific rigor and consensus, vaccine advisers and former government employees told Reuters, and one prominent medical group has boycotted the meeting, which is unfolding under intense scrutiny.
At least two CDC staff members left over the changes. Major medical experts and former members of the panel, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, have expressed concern over its reconstitution.
One of its newly appointed members, Dr. Michael Ross, unexpectedly withdrew from the panel, further fueling concerns about the internal dynamics of the reshaped group. More than half of the remaining seven members have advocated against vaccines.
Committee chair Dr. Martin Kulldorff - a biostatistician and epidemiologist who publicly criticized COVID-19 lockdowns and was fired from Harvard for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine - said the panel will review the total number of vaccines U.S. children and adolescents receive, which he said exceeds those given to children in other developed nations.
"This includes interaction effects between different vaccines, the total number of vaccines, cumulative amounts of vaccine ingredients and the relative timing of different vaccines," he said.
An area of focus at the two-day meeting is vaccines containing thimerosal, long targeted by anti-vaccine advocates despite broad scientific consensus on its safety.
Recommendations are typically sent to the CDC director for approval, but the nominee has not yet been confirmed. Nominee Susan Monarez testified at a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday.
Typically, vaccine advisory meetings require months of preparation and multiple subcommittee meetings with career CDC experts, panel members and outside experts who review scientific data and present recommendations for the committee to consider and vote on.
Instead, the final meeting agenda was posted on the CDC's website on Tuesday then changed to shift who would be making a presentation on the newly added topic of the use of thimerosal in flu vaccines, a preservative that has been largely phased out of U.S. vaccines.
Redwood's slide presentation on thimerosal's effects on the brain, released on Tuesday, included a reference to a study that does not exist, the listed author told Reuters. The presentation has since been updated to remove the reference.
An HHS spokesperson disputed the concerns relayed to Reuters, saying the additions and scheduling decisions were made transparently and in line with established procedures.
During the meeting, Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, a recently named Food and Drug Administration representative known as an "ex-officio" participant, questioned a CDC representative on the reliability of its COVID-19 vaccine efficacy data. Hoeg has opposed key U.S. COVID-19 health policies.
"The ex-officios usually are there to answer questions and rarely ask questions," Schaffner said of Hoeg's comments.
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