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An anti-Vaccin activist presents data to the RFK Jr.

A longtime anti-vaccine activist has made a presentation at the meeting of the Consultative Committee for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a question that has long been considered a established science on Thursday.

It was perhaps the clear sign of the way in which the Panel meetings, called the advisory committee on vaccination practices, have already changed considerably under the Secretary of Health and Social Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently dismissed the 17 members of the Panel and replaced them with his own appointments.

The presenter, the nurse practitioner Lyn Redwood, is the emeritus president of the defense of children’s health, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy. Its presentation focused on Thimérosal, a mercury -based curator who had already been used in certain vaccines. Since 2001, however, almost all vaccines made in the United States do not contain Thimérosal or traces only. Exceptions are multidose flu vaccine bottles, although most flu vaccines are now available in single dose packaging that does not contain the preservative.

Anti-Vaccin activists have long said that Thimérosal is linked to autism, but the link has been largely demystified. Sequoia has referred to “neurodevelopmental disorders” rather than autism in its presentation, but after the presentation, it affirmed links between the inflammation of the Thimérosal and the brain, which it called “one of the characteristics that we see in autism”.

An information document on training that was available on the CDC website said on Tuesday that a summary of studies has revealed “no association between prenatal exposure to vaccinations containing thimérosal and autism spectrum disorder.” The document was eliminated Wednesday without explanation. A member of the AIPI, Dr. Robert Malone, said Thursday at the meeting which, according to his understanding, “this article was not authorized by the office of the secretary and was deleted.”

Dr. David Higgins, pediatrician and specialist in preventive medicine at the medical campus of the University of Colorado Anschutz, has deleted the abolition of the document.

“Decades of evidence has been ignored or even hidden,” said Higgins, who was not part of the meeting. “It is not transparent. It is not a scientific integrity. “

After the presentation, the committee voted 5-1 has Recommend children, adults and pregnant women receive vaccines against unique thimérosal flu. A member, Vicky Pebsworth, has abstained.

Before the implementation of the ACIP recommendations, the director of the CDC must sign them. However, there is no director, as a candidate for the position, Susan Monarez, awaits confirmation of the Senate. In the absence of a director, Kennedy has the power to adopt the recommendations of the ACIP. ACIP recommendations do not mean that multi-doses bottles are prohibited; For this to happen, Food and Drug Administration should revoke approval.

Vaccines against flu-like influenza represent the majority of doses given in the United States. Only 4% to 5% of flu vaccines used during the 2024-25 season were multi-doses vaccines, containing Thimérosal, said Tracey Beth Høeg, special advisor of the FDA commissioner, at the meeting.

Dr Cody Meissner, a pediatrician, was the only dissident vote.

“The risk of flu is much greater than the nonexistent risk, to our knowledge, the risk of Thimérosal,” said Meissner about his vote. “I would hate a person not to receive the flu vaccine because the only preparation available contains thimérosal. I find it very difficult to justify. ”

Meissner had initially followed the presentation of Redwood by saying that he did not know how to answer it. “This is an old problem that has been solved in the past,” he said.

Several experts on infectious diseases said in a media call Thursday after the APIP meeting that multi-dose vaccines can be useful for vaccination of large groups such as workers. The decision not to recommend vaccines containing Thimérosal could also dissuade other countries – where multi -doses bottles are more common – to use them, thus reducing access to vaccines, they added.

The two -day meeting was the first time that the Remodeled Advisory Committee had summoned itself.Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images

Dr. Sean O’Leary, the affair of the American Academy of Pediatrics at the ACIP, described the presentation of “unprecedented” Redwood.

“It was a very biased presentation full of data and culbus sciences selected in cherry,” said O’Leary. “The vast majority of her was not really relevant to the Thimérosal in vaccines.”

O’Leary told journalists during a call on Thursday that the AAP had chosen not to participate in the meeting, which it usually does. “This meeting presented an AIPI which derived so far from its long-standing objective on science, evidence and public health. When this orientation returns, too,” he said.

Higgins, the Colorado pediatrician who has not been part of the meeting, said: “It is scandalous as a decision as substantial as it is decided on the basis of a unique presentation of someone who is probably not an expert in the field.”

The presentation of Redwood also sparked a series of responses from representatives of large medical organizations participating in the meeting, which questioned the veracity of the data presented and asked to see credible scientific evidence.

“There will be a real presentation of the CDC made by personnel scientists, doctors and those who are experts in the field with specific scientific data and evaluated by peers,” “Dr. Jason Goldman, the affair of the American college of doctors with the Aipic, asked the Committee:” or will we have presentations of the laity? “

The president of the committee, Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistian who criticized the pandemic locking and the coastal vaccines, scolded these representatives for their retreat.

“I think it is inappropriate to reject a presentation simply because the person has no doctorate or MD,” he said. “There are many well -informed people that we would like to hear, and we want to hear a variety of views. And I think today’s discussion is a very good example that we have received the comments of a variety of people on this subject.”

During a separate vote, the Committee reaffirmed the existing recommendation that people aged 6 months and more should obtain annual flu vaccines, with six votes in favor. Pebsworth has again chosen to abstain.

Voting in favor of RSV drugs

Earlier Thursday, the Committee voted on the advisability of recommending an RSV medication for infants under 8 months of age. Five members voted in favor and two voted against, providing the majority necessary for the recommendation to be adopted.

The medication for a vote Thursday, Clesrovimab, is an injection of monoclonal antibodies which can prevent the drop in respiratory diseases in infants during or before their first season of Vrs, which generally starts in the fall and culminates in winter. The VRS, or syncytial respiratory virus, causes up to 300 deaths per year among the under 5 in the United States. A severe RSV dramatic peak overwhelmed hospitals for children at the end of 2022.

The FDA approved Clesrovimab this month. A similar medication, Norsevimab, has also been approved for infants and some young children since 2023. A vaccine for pregnant women who also protect newborns is also approved.

Meissner, who was part of the RSV committee working group, answered other members’ questions about test data and the disease itself. He explained how the tiny airways of newborns put them at a higher risk of serious illness. This risk, he said, falls in their second year of life, when the airways are larger. The working group determined that the drug was effective in preventing severe RSV in young infants and had a favorable security profile.

“These are really remarkable products. They are safe and they are effective,” said Meissner. “The FDA has spent a lot of time looking at safety and efficiency.”

Despite this, two members of the group, Pebsworth and Retsef Levi, questioned the safety of the medication and voted not to recommend it.

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