RFK Jr. Adds Five More Unqualified, Anti-Vaxx Members To ACIP
from the making-it-worse dept
We’ve all become entirely too familiar with ACIP, the CDC panel that discusses and recommends vaccination schedules across a wide swath of vaccines. The method by which ACIP became part of the general American lexicon traces all the way back to June, when RFK Jr., as head of HHS, fired every single member of the ACIP panel he inherited. All 17 of them. In their place he unilaterally appointed 8 new members, all or nearly all of whom were derided immediately by the medical community for being unqualified, anti-medicine, anti-science, and anti-vaxx. It was so bad that Bill Cassidy wanted ACIP to simply not conduct its first meeting, but that desire was ignored. And when they did meet, the discussion predictably veered into conspiracy theories.
The proper response to this would be a movement building to oust Kennedy from his post. A slightly less proper response would be for Kennedy to re-staff ACIP with people who know what the fuck they’re talking about.
But this is 2025, so what actually happened was for Kennedy to instead add five more unqualified, anti-vaxx folks to ACIP instead. Apparently the echo chamber had more seating capacity than Kennedy first realized.
Health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed five more people to the federal advisory committee that sets national vaccination recommendations. Like the existing members, the new appointees have questionable qualifications for being on the panel, and many have expressed anti-vaccine views.
Now, it’s one thing to state that these people espouse views not compatible with good medicine. It’s another thing to show your work in doing so, pointing out exactly what you mean by that. Kirk Milhoan is a pediatric cardiologist who contributed to a group that pushed COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and advocated for alternative treatments. Evelyn Griffin was a doctor in Louisiana who lost her job over the COVID vaccine mandate she refused to comply with. Hillary Blackburn is relatively unnotable, a pharmacist, though she happens to be related by marriage to Senator Marsh Blackburn. Raymond Pollak is “a semi-retired transplant surgeon,” which means he has fuck-all specialization in vaccines.
And then there’s Catherine Stein.
Catherine Stein, a professor at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health. As Ars previously reported, Stein has advocated against vaccine mandates and wrote a 2021 article arguing that people should not be afraid of contracting COVID-19 because: “Our Lord has given us a mission to share the gospel. If we live in fear of death, that weakens our testimony. Remember, the Lord Jesus did not fear lepers, and leprosy was (and continues to be) a highly contagious infectious disease.”
Leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, is not a highly contagious disease, and about 95 percent of people are naturally immune.
Based on that 2021 article, I have to wonder why Stein thinks we should be practicing medicine at all. At the very least, I would hope we can agree that the last people we should want advising the nation on immunization practices are those advocating for any flavor of “Pray the sick away.” Yet, here we are.
ACIP is meeting in a few days. They’ll be discussing every vaccine schedule from MMR to Hep B to COVID-19. And it’s quite clear that the collective medical community is holding its breath and waiting to see what comes next.
Filed Under: acip, catherine stein, cdc, denialists, health and human services, rfk jr., skeptics, vaccines
Comments on “RFK Jr. Adds Five More Unqualified, Anti-Vaxx Members To ACIP”
He might as well add 500, for the difference it makes. We know RFK is fucked in the head and the TikTACO is happy about that.
Fox, Hen house
RFK Jr. leading the CDC is like having a fox in the hen house, adding more foxes into said hen house with similar views as his is just political and medical malpractice. Given that he was also appointed by 4547 I’d have to say the chode in chief is the biggest one to blame alongside 77 million others that thought to give him a second chance on November 4th 2024.
A discussion is.
Multiple people Talking to each other.
When there is a Difference of opinion, even little things.
It becomes a debate or at least a comparison of Fact.
You cant debate with Everyone Thinks the Same thing. You might as well Fire them all, and do it yourself. Without Time, Without Science, Without the extra Knowledge NEEDED to decide properly.
Re:
But I’m pretty sure they all disagree with each other (i.e. each only agrees with himself) and give unless discussion about their point of view.
Only none of theses discussions have to do with science.
Re: Re: you can not debate opinion
You can only debate facts.
Its better to discover Where and Who they got the Facts from, and Find Holes in Where and Who, or in their Understanding of what was Said.
Literally, They had Books created against Many other Races. With so much Sudo Science in them, JUST so that had Backup to the Claims they made.
If you could not read, their were Pictures Showing the explanation.
If you cant get to the facts and Use them Against the Person/Group, you have no chance. And if They use a Round Robgin Logic, that you cant Break, You cna never Change the opinion.
Yes, but Jesus died at 33. Surely not from leprosy but it doesn’t mean to didn’t catch it.
Re: Wow, how wrong can a person be
There are variants in Leprosy, but Most is NOT contagious.
Re:
Except “highly contagious” depends on circumstances. Simply touching a person with leprosy doesn’t put you at risk of catching it, but sharing a bed with such a person practically guarantees it.
And here is what is wrong with everybody
Y’all need to stop holding your breaths and letting the insane set the pace and the agenda. Just route around the idiots or you’ll not get anywhere. Making them responsible was a mistake, sure, but at one point of time, you need to move on. The only power they have is money, so just stop responding to money.
Fear of Death
Does Professor Stein reason that crossing the street only at green lights also manifests a fear of death?
Re:
As a pedestrian, I never cross the street at a green light. I have my reasons.
Holding their breath
It’s not the anticipation they’re holding their breath for, it the massive disease-filled fog of communicable, airborne contagions spread by the ACIP’s expected recommendations.