FDA Vaccines Panel Member Offit Removed
FDA is removing members of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Vaccine Education Center director Paul Offit reportedly is the first to go. Offit has often been a critic of HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his health policies. He was slated to serve on the panel through 1/31/2027.
The agency has issued notifications to “certain advisory committee members whose Special Government Employee (SGE) terms have expired and therefore can no longer participate in advisory committee work,” an HHS spokesperson told FDA Webview 9/2.
Top House Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee have recently raised concerns over what they describe as a coordinated effort by the Trump Administration to restrict access to vaccines and undermine public trust in the nation’s immunization system. Two oversight letters sent to FDA commissioner Marty Makary and HHS secretary Kennedy accused the department and the agency of acting with “ideologically driven” motives that could jeopardize the health of millions of Americans (see earlier story).
In their letter to FDA, the Democrats expressed concern over recent actions they say have restricted access to Covid-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, especially ahead of what could be a severe respiratory illness season. “These actions are far from the promise of ‘radical transparency’ so frequently cited by the Trump Administration,” the lawmakers wrote. “Congress and the public deserve more information about the rationale behind FDA’s decisions that will likely have harmful effects on the health and safety of the American people.”
The agency letter also points to shifting agency policies regarding the approval and distribution of new vaccines, questioning whether political considerations are interfering with the agency’s scientific judgment.
In their letter to Kennedy, the Democrats wrote that they were concerned about his removal of all 17 members serving on HHS’ Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which was undertaken to “restore public trust” in vaccines and address conflicts of interest concerns for previous members. “Your careless and opaque process of firing all 17 previous ACIP members and appointing new ones who have clear biases against vaccines make clear your true intentions: to undermine the science-based process we have long relied on to provide vaccination recommendations,” the letter said. “We fear that your ideologically driven agenda is to make vaccines broadly less accessible to all Americans.”
As a long vocal critic of Kennedy’s actions, Offit most recently warned that the public can no longer trust the CDC because Kennedy has appointed unqualified individuals to its vaccine advisory committee. Offit has also called Kennedy a “virulent anti-vaccine activist” who makes up his own “scientific truths.” He noted that Kennedy refuses to believe scientific data presented to him, and that he continues to promote the long-debunked theory that vaccines are linked to autism.