ACIP Meeting Turns into “Epidemiological Crime Scene”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Health experts with Defend Public Health expressed shock at the flood of antivaxxer disinformation that dominated the first day of the December meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Epidemiologist Elizabeth Jacobs, a member of the Defend Public Health Coordinating Committee said:

“The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is no longer a legitimate scientific body. At their meeting today, the primary speakers were a climate scientist and an MBA who are immersed in anti-vaccination misinformation. When pressed for evidence to back up their vague but sinister claims alleging harm associated with hepatitis B vaccine, they were unable to do so.

“Secretary Kennedy claims that he wants to rid ACIP of conflicts of interest, yet he has organized a group that espouses and promotes anti-vaccination beliefs in the absence of facts. Tomorrow, the parade of conflicts of interest will continue with the appearance of an attorney who sues vaccine companies for a living and yet was given a speaking slot at a scientific meeting. He will likely present data from a discredited and unpublished study, as he has done in the past, because he doesn't have the knowledge, training or experience to understand its flaws.

“At today's meeting, multiple speakers also attempted to re-stigmatize Hepatitis B infection by blaming US cases on ‘illegal immigrants,’ and tying the condition to men who have sex with men, women having multiple sex partners, immigrants, and urban residence. This is a disgraceful direction for a once scientifically-based committee. It is an epidemiological crime scene.”

###

Defend Public Health is a volunteer-driven network of public health researchers, healthcare workers, advocates and allies fighting to protect the health of all from the Trump administration's cruel attacks on proven, science-based public health policies. We believe that everyone has the right to what they need for a healthy life, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
DefendPublicHealth.org