No. of Recommendations: 10
It's easy to understand how Trump, the reality tv actor, would be easily fooled into thinking he's hiring smart people since he's so ignorant... and make no mistake about it; Trump is not a reader. He's supremely ignorant. His narcissism requires that he claim to possess a broad range of knowledge. It's part of the kayfabe he learned from the WWE McMahons.
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
ACIP is an independent committee of the CDC that examines vaccine safety and effectiveness data and then recommends which vaccines should be given to children and adults. The committee consists of up to 19 voting members who are independent vaccine experts in vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious diseases, and/or preventive medicine. It also usually includes a “consumer representative,” an individual who can represent the community and social aspects of vaccine policy. There are also ex-officio members from other governmental agencies and there are non-voting members from groups that have an interest in vaccines like medical societies.
"ACIP recommendations are evidence-based, that is, they rely upon data from clinical trials and post-marketing studies that are generally published in peer-reviewed journals. Their recommendations are not based on opinions but on scientific data. None of the voting members are employees of a pharmaceutical company, so there is no bias in their votes.
ACIP recommendations are forwarded to the CDC’s Director and once adopted become official CDC policy.
There are several ways RFK Jr can cause damage:
1. He can change the makeup of ACIP, putting vaccine deniers on the committee. The HHS Secretary has the final say over who sits on ACIP, so he may replace every scientist with anti-vaccine crackpots. Can you imagine if Andrew Wakefield was put on the committee?
2. Since the CDC director is appointed by the President, RFK Jr may get someone who is in sync with his beliefs and will reject the ACIP recommendations.
3. He could change the system where ACIP no longer has an advisory role for vaccine recommendations.
