STAT+: Ousted CDC vaccine adviser says RFK Jr.’s message is clear: ‘Scientific expertise is no longer of use’
Terminated CDC vaccine adviser Helen Chu spoke with STAT about her fears for the future of vaccine policy
Helen Chu went through a multi-year process to finally gain a seat on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccines experts panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. There was a lengthy application process, and extensive conflict-of-interest vetting, followed by training about how the committee conducts its operations.
Chu, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Washington, was appointed last year to a four-year term on the committee. She participated in one meeting as a voting member. And then she and the rest of her colleagues on the ACIP were summarily terminated on Monday, in a move health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an avowed vaccine skeptic and long-time ACIP critic — insisted was necessary to restore public confidence in vaccines.
Kennedy, who has been criticized for being a major source of vaccine misinformation, has indicated he intends to appoint new members to the committee. At present, no names have been made public, nor has he indicated anything about the selection process or vetting these new members will undergo. However it’s done, it will not be the thorough assessment Chu underwent. The as-yet-unnamed new ACIP is scheduled to hold its first meeting June 25-27.
The ousted members of the ACIP are reeling from their unexpected dismissals, and many are laying low at the request of academic institutions that fear reprisals from the Trump administration.
But Chu agreed to speak with STAT on Tuesday. She talked about her fears for the future of vaccine policy, the prospect of a nation with a patchwork approach to vaccination, and, in her view, the diminished reputation of a committee that has been viewed as the global standard for how to study new vaccines and recommend how they should be used.
