Newswise — ATS Member Experts: Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, co-chair, American Thoracic Society Vaccine Initiative Advisory Panel; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Justin Ortiz, MD, American Thoracic Society Vaccine Initiative Advisory Panel; University of Maryland School of Medicine.
On Thursday, the CDC Advisory Panel announced that it would drop thimerosal, a preservative, from the flu vaccine. In a 2007 NEJM perspective piece, vaccine expert Paul Offit, MD, shared his concerns about the misinformation that swirled around thimerosal and unsubstantiated links to other illnesses. This latest decision from the advisory panel is not rooted in science and may bolster anti-vaccine sentiment.
Key Messages
- Science must lead the way in public health decisions. Our government advice about how vaccines are recommended for use should not come from a group of largely non-experts.
- Having qualified members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is critical to ensuring vaccine recommendations are rooted in evidence, evaluated by those with proven expertise who undergo a transparent evaluation process to serve in this important capacity.
- The integrity of our immunization policies and our health depends upon informed decisions based upon available data, not uninformed voices.
- While banning thimerosal is not evidence based and has little operational impact in the US, it is part of a concerted effort to pick away at vaccine confidence in the United States.
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