上周被驱逐的联邦疫苗咨询委员会的17名成员认为，他们的突然解雇“使美国疫苗计划受到严重削弱。”
自卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪解雇他们以来，该组织首次集体发言，称他的行为“剥夺了该项目在过去几十年中取得成功所必需的制度知识和连续性”周一发表的社论在美国医学协会杂志上。
上周，肯尼迪采取了前所未有的行动解散了17名成员免疫实践咨询委员会的ACIP在一篇评论文章中指出华尔街日报“要重建公众对疫苗科学的信心，需要一场大清洗。”
肯尼迪声称，该小组受到利益冲突的困扰，是所有疫苗的“橡皮图章”。
两天后，他任命了八名新成员，其中一些人曾与肯尼迪有过联系。一些人先前支持疫苗怀疑论观点，分享与肯尼迪先前评论一致的观点。
在宣布新成员之前，肯尼迪告诉美国广播公司新闻新的ACIP成员不会是“反vaxxers”，而是“认证”的科学家和医生，他们将“客观”并遵循“循证医学”
Kennedy还对ABC新闻说，目前推荐给儿童的疫苗清单将由新的ACIP成员重新分析，因为他不相信导致他们最初批准的科学。
ACIP是一个由独立科学家和临床医生组成的小组，评估疫苗的安全性、有效性和临床需求，并就谁应该在何时注射疫苗的建议进行投票。
疾病控制和预防中心的主任对是否接受这些建议有最终决定权。
目前，疾病预防控制中心主任的职位仍然空缺，肯尼迪一直在做出最后的建议。
“作为前ACIP成员，我们深感担忧的是，这些在没有明确理由的情况下做出的破坏稳定的决定，可能会逆转美国免疫政策的成就，影响人们获得救命疫苗的机会，并最终使美国家庭面临危险和可预防疾病的风险，”这些前顾问写道。
该组织认为，尽管肯尼迪最近提出了建议，但医疗保健提供者历来信任疾病预防控制中心的咨询委员会提供疫苗建议。
他们引用CDC的数据指出，美国每100名儿童中有99名在两岁时至少接种了一些委员会推荐的疫苗。
前顾问引用的研究表明，从1994年到2023年，约1.17亿儿童的常规疫苗接种可能会防止5.08亿例终身疾病，3200万例住院治疗和110多万例死亡。
根据该组织的说法，这数百万疫苗相当于净节省5400亿美元的直接成本和2.7万亿美元的社会成本。
根据会议纪要，新顾问将于本月晚些时候开会，就与新冠肺炎、人乳头瘤病毒、流感、脑膜炎球菌和呼吸道合胞病毒疫苗相关的疫苗建议进行投票联邦通知.
先前的成员已经就RSV和脑膜炎球菌疫苗的建议进行了投票，但这些修改没有被肯尼迪采纳。
CDC vaccine advisers who were removed from committee by RFK Jr. speak out
The 17 members of a federal vaccine advisory committee, who were ousted last week, argued their abrupt dismissal has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened."
The group, speaking collectively for the first time since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed them, said his actions "have stripped the program of the institutional knowledge and continuity that have been essential to its success over decades" in aneditorial published Mondayin the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In an unprecedented move last week, Kennedydismissed each of the 17 membersof the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, noting in an opinion piece inThe Wall Street Journalthat "a clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science."
Kennedy claimed the panel was plagued by conflicts of interest and was a "rubber stamp" for all vaccines.
Two days later, he appointed eight new members -- some with previous ties to Kennedy. A few have previously espoused vaccine skeptical viewpoints, sharing ideas in line with the Kennedy's prior comments.
Prior to announcing the new members,Kennedy told ABC Newsthe new ACIP members would not be "anti-vaxxers" but "credentialed" scientists and physicians who were going to be "objective" and follow "evidence-based medicine."
Kennedy also said to ABC News that the current list of vaccines that are recommended for children would be re-analyzed by the new ACIP members because he doesn't trust the science that led to their initial approvals.
The ACIP is a panel of independent scientists and clinicians that evaluates the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines, and votes on recommendations regarding who should get shots and when.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations.
Currently, the CDC director role remains vacant, and Kennedy has been making the final recommendations.
"As former ACIP members, we are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people's access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses," the former advisers wrote.
The group argued that, despite recent suggestions by Kennedy, health care providers have historically trusted the CDC's advisory committee to provide vaccine recommendations.
They noted that 99 of every 100 children in the U.S. have received at least some of the committee's recommended vaccines by the time they are 2 years old, citing CDC data.
The former advisers cited research showing that routine vaccination of about 117 million kids from 1994 to 2023 likely prevented 508 million lifetime cases of illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations and over 1.1 million deaths.
Those millions of vaccinations equate to a net saving of $540 billion in direct costs and $2.7 trillion in societal costs, according to the group.
The new advisers are set to meet later this month and vote on vaccine recommendations related to COVID-19, HPV, flu, meningococcal and RSV shots, according to the meeting'sfederal notice.
The prior members had already voted on recommendations for the RSV and meningococcal vaccines, but the changes were not adopted by Kennedy.
