The new Trump administration’s vaccination advisers approved the influenza vaccines for almost all Americans on Thursday – but only if they have used certain preservatives who have been used safely in vaccines for decades.
This is normally a routine stage in the preparation of the next season of the flu has attracted an in -depth examination after the American secretary of American health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suddenly dismissed the influencing advisory committee of 17 members on immunization practices (ACIP) and the side replacements which include several vaccine skeptics.
The panel of seven members made another standard on Thursday when he discussed the safety of a curator used in less than five percent of the vaccinations against the American flu: he deliberated on the basis of a presentation of the former chief of an anti -vaccine group – without authorizing the usual public dissemination of scientific data of American centers for the control and prevention of diseases.
The curator, the Thimérosal, has been used for decades in certain vaccines that arise in multi-dose bottles, to avoid contamination when each dose is removed. Its controversy comes from the content of a small quantity of a particular type of mercury. However, CDC’s own data show that it is safe and Friday, the World Health Organization said in a press point that there was no proof of risk.
“Thimeralal has been examined several times by several agencies, including WHO, and it appears clearly from the evidence that there is no evidence of the use of Thimérosal,” said Dr. Katherine O’Brien of who told journalists in reaction to the decision of the American panel.
The Thimérosal contains a minute of Ethyl Mercure, which decomposes quickly into the body and is quickly removed, unlike methyl mercury, the type of mercury found in the environment that can accumulate in the body and cause harm. In Canada, a handful of approved multidose influenza vaccines for use by Health Canada contain Thimérosal, but the vast majority of infant routine vaccines do not do so.
Unique dose flu plans not affected
The study after the study has found no evidence that Thimérosal causes autism, a myth long driven by anti-vaccine groups or has security risks. However, since 2001, all vaccines have been systematically used for children aged 6 or under, have already come to formulas without Thimérosal.
The advisory committee voted to support the usual recommendation of the United States that almost everyone aged six months and more obtained vaccination against annual flu, but then voted 5-1 with abstention that it was necessary to be formulations without Thimérosal.
This would include single dose shots that are already the most common type of flu vaccination, and exclude the influenza vaccine subset in multi-dose bottles.
“There is still no demonstrable evidence of prejudice,” said a panelist, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist with the National Institutes of Health, recognizing that the Committee did not follow his usual practice of acting on evidence.
But he argued that “we must respect the fear of mercury” which, according to him, could dissuade some people from being vaccinated.
CDC analysis blocked by panel
Lyn Redwood, formerly of the anti-vaccine group based on the healthy children’s group, made the presentation on the Thimérosal in front of the panel, arguing that it was a neurotoxin.
The version of the presentation of Redwood published on the CDC website earlier this week initially included a reference to a study that does not exist. The report she gave to the committee was much shorter, deleting a reference to this study and another slide saying that she had no conflict of interest.
“With the voting on Thimérosal this afternoon, the new committee transformed the ACIP process into a farce,” said former CDC vaccine advisor, Dr Fiona Havers, who resigned last week for Kennedy’s modifications to vaccine policy.
The medical groups have decried the lack of transparency of the panel in blocking a CDC analysis of the Thimérosal which concluded that there was no link between the disorders of the conservative and the neurodevelopmental, including autism. The data had been published on Tuesday on the committee website, but were then deleted – because, according to Dr. Robert Malone, a member of the ACIP, the report was not authorized by the Kennedy office. The members of the panel said they had read it.
The AIPI helps the CDC to determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when, and its recommendations have a significant impact on the availability and insurance coverage of vaccines in the United States
Normally, the director of the CDC would decide to accept it from the recommendation of the ACIP, but the Senate has not yet confirmed the candidate Susan Monarez. Administration officials said Kennedy would make this decision.
Although Thursday’s debate concerns only a small fraction of flu vaccines, some public health experts claim that the discussion has unnecessarily raised a doubt about vaccine safety. Already, less than half of Americans obtain their annual vaccinations on flu, and distrust in global vaccines increases.
“The selective use of data and the omission of science established undergoes public confidence and feeds disinformation,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He said about new panelists: “Nothing on their recent actions was based on science or transparent.”
A new study published in Lancet Medical Journal suggests that infantile vaccinations have stagnated or decreased since 2010. The authors say that geopolitical instability fuels the decline in certain countries, but that disinformation largely stimulates the drop in high income countries.
The pediatric group announced on Wednesday that it would no longer participate in the ACIP meetings, President Sue Kressly said in a video Declaration that “with the dismissals of the committee, it is no longer a credible process”. The AAP will continue to publish its own vaccination recommendations.
The votes of the flu marked the last stage of a two -day meeting that alarmed pediatricians and the other groups of doctors, who highlighted the lack of expertise of new panelists in the way of correctly monitoring vaccine safety – and a change in focus that seems to increase anti -vaccine messaging.
The announcement of the president of the panel, Martin Kulldorff, particularly concerning the announcement to reassess the “cumulative effect” of the children’s vaccines – the list of vaccinations given at different times of childhood. This reflects the scientifically demystified concept that children today get too many vaccinations for their immune system.
