On June 26, in three separate votes, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended children, pregnant women, and all other adults to receive single-dose flu immunizations that don’t contain thimerosal.
This vote came after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. purged ACIP and replaced it with loyal anti-vaccine hacks.
The committee made these votes based on pseudoscience that claims that thimerosal can expose children to mercury and thus cause autism. There is no evidence behind this widely debunked notion. Thimerosal is safe. Even so, thimerosal is only in four percent of flu shots, and is not included in any flu vaccines for children as of 2001.
Lyn Redwood, an RFK ally and purveyor of anti-vaccine misinformation, gave a presentation as part of her first job that joined in on the lies that exaggerate the relevance and danger of thimerosal. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) document containing contradictory information was removed just before the meeting.
In response to a question about why the document had been taken down, Dr. Robert Malone, an ACIP member, said his understanding was that it had not been “authorized by the Office of the Secretary.”
In response to a question about why the document had been taken down, Dr. Robert Malone, an ACIP member, said his understanding was that it had not been “authorized by the Office of the Secretary.”
NPR
The now-seven member committee also voted to study established vaccine guidelines as well as child and adolescent vaccine schedules.
ACIP has now become more about esotericism, activism, and superstition than science and medicine.
