Ex-CDC official discusses expected vaccine committee vote on Hep B shot for newborns : NPR

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Let’s turn to a doctor who was previously the CDC’s chief medical officer. Dr. Debra Houry worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more than a decade. She resigned in August, along with other colleagues to protest Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s changes to the agency, later testifying before a Senate committee that Kennedy was “censoring the science.” And she is with us now. Doctor Houry, hello.

DEBRA HOURY: Hello.

MARTIN: You just heard our colleague Rob Stein describe this chaotic meeting. I know you watched it too. What did you do with it?

HOURY: You know, it’s disappointing and really concerning when, you know, lives are at stake, and it’s vaccines. And this committee met in September and couldn’t get its act together and postponed it until December. So surely, you know, over three months, they should know what they’re voting on and the evidence, otherwise they shouldn’t be having these discussions.

MARTIN: There’s been plenty of criticism of this group of advisers – their credentials or lack thereof – including from at least one Republican. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on Thursday called the committee “totally discredited.” And I want to mention that Cassidy is also a doctor. Do you share his opinion?

TIME: Yeah. You know, when you look at the ACIP members – the Immunization Practice Committee members – they’re generally, you know, pediatricians, vaccine science people, pharmacologists. Many of these people do not have extensive scientific training. And when you watched the presenters yesterday, what was unusual is that usually the CDC scientists really dig deep into the data. Instead, there were people, including two who had a retracted paper on autism, giving presentations on vaccine safety who are not scientists on the subject.

MARTIN: I noticed you posted a Time article this morning on their website saying that Congress really needs to step in here, but what could they do?

TIME: Yeah. They could do some things, not just around the vaccine committee, but the CDC continues to hire political appointees. There are now more than 14 without any career scientists in the director’s office. I left a hundred days ago, and there are still no career scientists really providing direction. If you plan to oversee things like the vaccine committee meeting, they could ensure that the committee processes, like releasing documents and data, before the committees. You know, we must ensure that the language of the vote is open to the public, ensure good representation. So Congress could do a lot.

MARTIN: Coming back to the vaccine question, the CDC can choose not to follow the panel’s recommendations, but if it does follow them, what concerns you most? – this recommendation against re-vaccination of all newborns – against hepatitis B.

TIME: Yeah. And, you know, the CDC could choose not to follow them, but the acting director of the CDC is RFK’s deputy secretary, and the secretary could, of course, choose to do whatever he wants. So I believe that whatever the vaccine committee does, the CDC and the department will follow. But if, you know, they decide not to allow this injection at two months, they take away the choice from the parents. Parents should be able to decide whether to protect their newborns from lifelong liver disease. So I would be worried if they removed this choice.

MARTIN: So if parents are concerned and want to get vaccinated, can they do that?

HOURY: It will depend on the vote. If they’re talking about shared decision making, then parents could still do that. If they only say if you test positive for hepatitis, then that choice is taken away from you. And parents should have the right to protect their children. We already know, you know, that thousands and thousands of liver diseases were prevented when the hepatitis vaccine started being given to everyone at birth, because there are household exposures, nail clippings, all kinds of things that can expose a newborn even if the mother doesn’t have hepatitis. So it’s about protecting babies and giving parents the choice to do so.

MARTIN: This is Dr. Debra Houry. She is the former chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She resigned in August. Doctor, thank you very much for sharing these ideas with us.

TIME: Thank you.

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