In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
Nearly a year ago, Kennedy fired all the ACIP members and replaced them with his own selections, including many who shared his own skeptical view of vaccines. But District Court Judge Brian Murphy ruled that HHS ran afoul of longstanding procedures governing the committee’s membership and focus, including those outlined in its charter.
On Monday, the administration filed a document in the Federal Register signifying its intent to renew the ACIP’s charter, which expired on April 1 and governs the committee’s work. The full charter, which must be renewed every two years, is expected to be published in a federal database next week.
The renewal notice contained language that seemed to signal that HHS will seek a broader cohort of experts — not just those with deep vaccine expertise.
The renewal notice calls for a “balance of specialty areas,” which include “biostatistics,” “consumer issues” and the “state and local health department perspective.” The now-expired 2024 charter called for a narrower focus on vaccine knowledge and expertise.
Key context: The new language comes after Informed Consent Action Network’s Aaron Siri, a vaccine injury lawyer who’s also worked as Kennedy’s personal attorney, urged Kennedy to make a variety of changes to the charter.
That revision, Siri and colleagues wrote on behalf of ICAN, an anti-vaccine advocacy group, should broaden the language around what expertise members should have.
“If [Kennedy] decides to not just wait out this court ruling, there’s some thoughts that he might just reconstitute a new ACIP committee and make sure he dots his I’s, but you’re saying he can change what I’s he needs to dot and what T’s he needs to cross,” said Del Bigtree, founder of Informed Consent Action Network, in a conversation with Siri on his podcast “The HighWire.”
Richard Hughes, an attorney for the public health groups that sued over the ACIP’s reconstitution, said in an email this week that any attempt “to gamify the charter to avoid the legal consequences of the stays” could be challenged.
“Those behind the document are laying the groundwork to file a charter with significant revisions to the scope and membership of ACIP,” he wrote. “The purposes are likely two-fold — attempting to create the appearance of conformity to legal challenges while laying the groundwork for furthering an anti-vaccine agenda.”
