Top Senate health leader calls CDC vaccine panel ‘totally discredited’ ACIP meeting this week includes presentation from anti-vaccine attorney

https://www.statnews.com/2025/12/04/cdc-vaccine-panel-senator-calls-acip-totally-discredited/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8o92CwfgV_buZJpbeuAncMj3WR-fYMgeU_kkoxY70QgX_xQ8BJVLYRYPRDPJs3B7_9YYWYST_-VVqT0EoLPpFj9q5VmA&_hsmi=393083194&utm_content=393083194&utm_source=hs_email The first day of the latest Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting was a doozy: a 30-year-old recommendation that all babies born in the U.S. be vaccinated at birth against hepatitis B seems likely to end. Infectious diseases experts say the move could result in more than a thousand babies contracting the highly infectious virus each year, a chronic disease that can lead to premature death. The final vote was delayed until today, but yesterday’s discussion suggests that members are planning to overturn the existing policy with few dissenters (though it did get testy, thanks in part to pediatrician Cody Meissner). It’s setting up to be a big win for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the anti-vaccine movement that supports him, even though hepatitis B shots have been given for decades and the current body of evidence indicates they are safe. What else to expect for today? Presentations from two controversial figures: Tracy Beth Hoeg, the newly-named FDA drug center head, and Aaron Siri, Kennedy’s former personal attorney, who has represented people who have allegedly been harmed by vaccines. Senate health leader Bill Cassidy (R-La.) called the ACIP “totally discredited” on Thursday upon learning that Siri would be testifying.