After the tabled hep B vote, some liaison members from top medical organizations shared their agreement for holding off on making changes to the current recommendations. Some also urged more transparency in how decisions will be made on future potential recommendation changes.
“I would urge the committee to use the methodical scientific method to weigh the risks and benefits appropriately,” said Dr. Amy Middleman, a liaison for the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. She added, “This is important for all vaccine decisions, and this is what I think some of us are really concerned about in terms of the absence of it.”
ACIP member Retsef Levi said he appreciated the desire to keep scientific methods but took issue with the liaison member’s comments.
“I have to say that one thing that puzzles me is that many of the speakers that push for the scientific approach are speaking very confidently in the absence of the gold standard evidence of robust long-term clinical trials against placebo,” Levi added, who has been pushing for more research beyond what the CDC has presented during the meetings.
When ACIP chair Kulldorff began to move on from the hep B discussion, Dr. Jason Goldman, president of the American College of Physicians, chimed in asking for more explanation and to call out the committee for muting him.
“That is disrespectful. You want debate and discussion, but you’re muting people and silencing them,” Goldman said. “Please provide to the public so they can have trust, faith and confidence in vaccination as to what process we are going to be using to properly vet and discuss all future vaccines. … Tell the public how you are going to be analyzing all of these vaccine decisions so we can have confidence in this committee.”
Kulldorff responded that he previously responded to that comment already before moving on to the next agenda matter.
