The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on September 15 the appointment of five new members to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Earlier this summer, after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 standing members on June 9, the Secretary selected eight new members on June 11, which drew criticism from across the healthcare community, as Healthcare Innovation’s Mark Hagland reported.
The five new members were selected just days before vaccine advisers to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meet to weigh who should receive COVID vaccines this season, Pien Huang noted for NPR. “On Thursday and Friday, the members will be considering policies such as who should get the fall COVID-19 booster shot, and whether all babies should get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.”
The newly appointed members are:
- Epidemiologist Catherine M. Stein, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Population & Quantitative Health with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Evelyn Griffin, M.D., Obstetrician and Gynecologist at Baton Rouge General Hospital, Louisiana.
- Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, M.B.A., Director of Medication Access and Affordability with AscensionRx in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Pediatric cardiologist and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon Kirk Milhoan, M.D., Ph.D., Medical Director with For Hearts and Souls Free Medical Clinic in Kihei, Hawaii.
- Surgeon, transplant immunobiologist, and transplant specialist Raymond Pollak, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.R.C.S.
“Stein has been critical of the nation’s response to COVID-19, including mask mandates and business closures,” CNN’s Katherine Dillinger and Brenda Goodman reported on Monday. They also noted that “Griffin criticized the country’s response to COVID-19 and the push for people to be vaccinated against it during a Health Freedom Day event in 2024.” Milhoan expressed previously that vaccines have caused heart-related deaths and disability.
Blackburn’s views on vaccines are unclear, The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel wrote. Pollack was a whistleblower in a lawsuit against the University of Illinois Hospital, Weixel reported furthermore.
The CDC director must approve ACIP recommendations before they are official, Weixel reported. “Earlier this month, Kennedy ousted the director of the CDC, Susan Monarez, just weeks after she was sworn in. Monarez said she refused to ‘rubber-stamp’ the committee’s decisions.”
