U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. announced one week ago he would shake up one of the key volunteer groups that advises the Centers for Disease Control and federal government on how to use vaccines. All 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), who were approved by President Joe Biden’s administration, saw their terms ended prematurely and abruptly to allow Kennedy to install his own picks.
One of those members was UNC researcher and academic director Noel Brewer.
Brewer began his term as a member of the ACIP last summer. He joined the group after being approached by a senior CDC leader in the years prior, who recommended he consider the role based on Brewer’s extensive research and more than 370 published papers on topics like HPV vaccination, tobacco use and medical screenings. During his time there, he primarily served on a work group aiming to reduce the number of vaccines on an immunization schedule – which saw two major projects get interrupted by the overhaul of the ACIP’s membership.
“One effort was to reduce the number of HPV vaccine doses from two down to one, because data have shown the vaccine is highly effective,” Brewer told Chapelboro. “The other effort was to shift COVID-19 vaccine recommendations from being routine over to being risk-based – and that also was not completed because of the actions by the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Like many of his peers on the committee, Brewer learned of his removal through the Wall Street Journal opinion column penned by Kennedy and published on Monday, June 9, which described the reason for purging the advisory group as “restoring public trust” in vaccines.
“That was at 4 p.m. on Monday,” he recounted, “and then by 5:48 p.m., I had received an email from the government firing me.”
The unusual change came just weeks before the ACIP was set to meet for the second of three times this calendar year, in which the committee members “review scientific data and vote on vaccine recommendations,” according to the CDC. Kennedy has moved to fill the board with eight new members, some of whom appear to have shaped his own vaccine skepticism.
Brewer described the group as an “unusual cast” of voices to join a committee like ACIP, and said it’s far too early to tell what to expect from the volunteer body going forward. In an interview with MSNBC, he added that the “lack of institutional understanding” the new appointees will have about ACIP means their work could initially be “hobbled.” But the impact will be a muddled picture for healthcare providers on what they should do to prevent diseases or illnesses and treat them without it spreading. Brewer said he’s already encountered this with his own children’s pediatrician, who described the environment around vaccines as “incredibly stressful.”
“Not knowing what the best evidence [is] for vaccination has greatly undermined his and many other health care providers’ confidence,” he said.
“The best I can say is,” added the UNC researcher, “if you have questions that result of all of this news coverage, it’s best to just check in with your healthcare provider and other people you trust about health information. Have a conversation and talk through what you think you want to do, specifically.”
What is next for Brewer? Since volunteering to help craft recommendations with ACIP took roughly three weeks of commitment this past year, he said he looks forward to having that time back to spend with family. On the professional side, Brewer said he plans to continue advising post-doc and graduate trainees in the behavioral health fields and working with the World Health Organization to examine the social drivers behind the decision to take HPV vaccines.
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UNC Researcher: Overhaul of CDC Vaccine Advisory Group Adds to ‘Incredible Stressful’ Health Environment Chapelboro.com.
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