Anti-vaccine activist presents data to RFK Jr.'s reshaped CDC advisory panel

A longtime anti-vaccine activist gave a presentation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee meeting Thursday about an issue that has long been considered settled science

A longtime anti-vaccine activist gave a presentation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee meeting Thursday about an issue that has long been considered settled science.

It was perhaps the clearest sign of how meetings of the panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, have already changed drastically under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently fired all 17 members of the panel and replaced them with his own appointees.

The presenter, nurse practitioner Lyn Redwood, is the president emerita of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy. Her presentation focused on thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that had previously been used in some vaccines. Since 2001, however, nearly all vaccines made in the United States contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts. The exceptions are multi-dose flu shot vials, though most flu shots now come in single-dose packaging that doesn’t contain the preservative.

Anti-vaccine activists have long claimed that thimerosal is linked to autism, but the link has been widely debunked. Redwood referred to “neurodevelopmental disorders” rather than autism in her presentation, but after the presentation she asserted links between thimerosal and brain inflammation, which she called “one of the hallmarks that we see in autism.”

A background briefing document that was available on the CDC’s website Tuesday said a summary of studies found “no association between prenatal exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccinations and autism spectrum disorder in children.” The document was taken down Wednesday without explanation. An ACIP member, Dr. Robert Malone, said Thursday at the meeting that, based on his understanding, “that article was not authorized by the office of the secretary and has been removed.”