The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the appointment of five members to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
“ACIP safeguards the health of Americans by issuing objective, evidence-based vaccine recommendations,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “Its new members bring diverse expertise that strengthens the committee and ensures it fulfills its mission with transparency, independence, and gold-standard science.”
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and Acting Director of the CDC, Jim O’Neill, said the new members “bring a wealth of real-world public health experience to the job of making immunization recommendations. We are grateful for their service in helping restore the public confidence in vaccines that was lost during the Biden era.”
The new members include:
- Catherine M. Stein, Ph.D.
- Evelyn Griffin, M.D.
- Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, M.B.A.
- Kirk Milhoan, M.D., Ph.D.
- Raymond Pollak, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.R.C.S.
In June, HHS removed the 17 members of the ACIP committee.
“The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies,” Kennedy said at the time, explaining that a “clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.”
During a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy defended his restructuring move, explaining the firings as “absolutely necessary adjustments” aimed at restoring integrity and effectiveness to the agency. He demanded that there to be “unbiased, politics‑free, transparent, evidence‑based science” as the foundation for future CDC operations.
