Washington D.C. – Medical experts are ripping apart a ‘confidential report’ by the COVID-19 Immunization ‘working group’ for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) ahead of its slated meeting this week to discuss ‘COVID-19 vaccine injuries’. As the New York Times reports: “Dr. Sean O’Leary, head of the pediatric infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the Covid work group’s report misrepresented the body of work already available on side effects from the Covid vaccine. The report cherry-picks studies of poor quality that support its thesis and omits work that does not, Dr. O’Leary said, adding, “It is straight out of the anti-vaccine handbook.”
As Protect Our Care has documented, Trump health secretary RFK Jr. has packed ACIP with several anti-science quacks and vaccine opponents, including its Chairman, who thinks a return of Polio wouldn’t be so bad.
“Instead of spending a single minute discussing the measles crisis afflicting unvaccinated folks across the country, the Trump administration’s vaccine advisory committee is set to fear-monger the COVID vaccine based on sloppy science and cherry-picked data. We expect nothing less from RFK Jr and his handpicked cabal of vaccine obstructionists who have played fast and loose with the facts while ignoring the overwhelming peer-reviewed evidence on vaccine safety and efficacy,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project. “Instead of addressing the comeback of vaccine-preventable illnesses, the Trump administration is focused on attacking vaccine manufacturers to score cheap political points.”
Key excerpts from the NYT Reporting:
[A] federal work group is calling for sweeping changes to how the medical establishment tracks and treats injuries from the shots.
The work group’s report — “written with a sense of urgency,” it said” — was drafted for the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that advises the government on vaccine policy.
[…]
Billions of people worldwide have received Covid vaccines. Most studies have not found widespread reports of deaths or severe side effects related to the shots. And in June 2025, when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overhauled the vaccine committee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the new members its databases had found no increased risk of death after Covid vaccination.
Dr. Sean O’Leary, head of the pediatric infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the Covid work group’s report misrepresented the body of work already available on side effects from the Covid vaccine. (The academy is one of six organizations that has sued the Health Department, with a goal of preventing A.C.I.P. members from meeting.)
The report cherry-picks studies of poor quality that support its thesis and omits work that does not, Dr. O’Leary said, adding, “It is straight out of the anti-vaccine handbook.”
[…]
The vaccine committee is scheduled to consider the work group’s recommendations at a meeting on Wednesday, but a federal court could upend those plans. A judge is expected to rule before Wednesday on whether the vaccine panel’s members are qualified to meet and make vaccine recommendations for Americans.
The committee’s decision to press ahead with discussing vaccine injuries, without proposing to withdraw the recommendations for the shots, reflects a delicate balancing act inside the Trump administration over how much emphasis to place on vaccine policy — an issue unpopular with voters in both parties — in advance of the November midterm elections.
[…]
The committee’s charter does include discussion of vaccine safety, but in the context of informing its “deliberations on use of vaccines.” The charter makes no mention of the committee’s involvement in clinical guidelines or diagnostic criteria for vaccine injuries.“Vaccine policy in the U.S. has become increasingly incoherent,” Dr. Brewer said. “This strange side quest is yet another example.”
A.C.I.P.’s guidelines have historically informed insurance coverage of the shots, as well as which vaccines states require for entry into schools and day care.
But it has lost much of its influence since Mr. Kennedy fired all of its members and appointed new ones, most of whom share his skepticism of vaccines.
Some of the committee’s recent decisions have not been embraced by states or insurance companies. […]
Dr. Debra Houry, who was the C.D.C.’s chief medical officer before she resigned in August, said she was surprised by the committee’s continued focus on Covid vaccines instead of on the nation’s current measles outbreaks or on newer vaccines the members could be discussing.
“It is always fine and welcome to look at concerns around vaccines and new evidence,” she said. “However, this committee seems to be hyperfocused on finding only the negatives and not benefits.”
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