Membership criteria also differ dramatically between the current charter and today’s renewal. Currently, ACIP members will be selected “from among officials who are knowledgeable in the field of vaccination practices and public health, who have expertise in the use of vaccines and other immunobiological agents in clinical practice or preventive medicine, who have expertise in clinical or laboratory vaccine research, or who have expertise in the evaluation of vaccine efficacy and safety.” These specific core requirements of expertise in vaccination practices and vaccinology were central to Murphy’s conclusions that Kennedy’s appointees were ineligible to be on the committee.
The renewal notice did not mention these criteria, but instead discussed members having a “geographic balance” (representing different parts of the country) and a “balance of special regions”. It provided a long list of specific areas that spanned the medical and scientific fields and potentially far beyond. These include: “biostatistics, toxicology, immunology, epidemiology, pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, nursing, consumer issues, state and local health department perspective, educational perspective, public health perspective, etc.”
Suggested changes
Some of the changes in the renewal may have been due to pressure from an anti-vaccine group close to Kennedy. The group is the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), led by Kennedy’s anti-vaccine ally Dale Bigtree, who is working with Aaron Sirie, an attorney who worked on Kennedy’s unsuccessful presidential campaign and has filed several lawsuits seeking compensation for alleged vaccine injuries. Siri is also notable for petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to cancel the polio vaccine.
Last month, ICAN urged Kennedy to revise ACIP’s charter and Siri’s law firm provided a draft with the track-changed text they want for the new charter. The draft states that ACIP members should have expertise in any area “deemed relevant by the Secretary.” But, it specifically states that “at least two members must have direct and substantial experience advocating for and/or treating people injured by vaccines.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to Ars Technica’s questions about the change in the renewal notice or a possible update to CDC’s full charter language. Spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email statement only that the renewal “is part of routine statutory requirements and does not signal any broader policy change.”
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