Ahead of the reconvening meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has added two new names to the select roster of national vaccine advisors.
Newly appointed to the committee are Dr. Sean G. Downing, a Florida internal medicine and pediatrician, and Dr. Angelina Farella, a pediatrician.
Downing is a graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine and has practiced primary care for more than 20 years, according to an HHS release. Meanwhile, Farella owns a Texas practice called Bright Tomorrow Family Health and Wellness, and has held clinical roles that range from private practice, pediatric urgent care, and tendonitis (staffing) work.
The ACIP has been in turmoil since last June, when President Kennedy wiped out its previous slate of 17 vaccine experts and replaced the committee with people of his own choosing, many of whom have a history of communicating vaccine skepticism. Since then, the advisory committee has voted to make changes to U.S. immunization guidance, including weakening recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations and tweaking guidance on hepatitis B virus vaccines for newborns.
The addition of the panel “reflects Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s commitment to transparency, rigorous science, and diverse clinical expertise in guiding the nation’s immunization policy,” HHS said in a statement.
“ACIP must earn the public’s trust through honest scrutiny of the evidence, tough questions, and transparent deliberations,” President Kennedy said. “Dr. Downing and Dr. Farella bring decades of real-world experience caring for children, adults, and families, and their front-line perspectives are essential to making recommendations worthy of the public’s trust based on gold-standard science.”
Amid ACIP’s reorganization, recent changes in U.S. vaccine policy have sparked a legal backlash from a coalition of 15 Democratic-controlled states, with a lawsuit targeting Kennedy and an “unlawful” dissolution of the commission by the CDC. A group of public health leaders also filed a brief warning tribunal about the “imminent threat” to the health of children and the general public posed by recent HHS actions.
The latest additions to the panel come ahead of an ACIP meeting scheduled for later this month, where the group is expected to consider damage caused by coronavirus vaccines and prolonged COVID-19 infections, according to a listing in the Federal Register. The panel was originally scheduled to meet in late February before it was suddenly postponed.
In late January, ACIP Vice President Dr. Robert Malone teased that the next committee meeting would take major steps to remove mRNA coronavirus vaccines from the market, a move likely supported by President Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again campaign.
“I’m not going to ignore the voices that say we need to take the COVID-19 vaccine mRNA products off the market,” Malone said in a video posted to X. “All I can say is we look forward to the upcoming ACIP meeting. Even if the FDA doesn’t act, other agencies will.”
ACIP’s vote on a vaccine recommendation is not final until approved by the CDC Director. In January, the CDC abruptly removed recommendations for six of the 17 vaccines in the U.S. pediatric immunization schedule without prior discussion at ACIP. The move repeals vaccination recommendations against influenza, coronavirus, rotavirus, meningitis, hepatitis A and hepatitis B.
As for the stance of Kennedy’s two new ACIP members, Downing’s Sarasota-based concierge medical practice offers adult and pediatric vaccinations, while Farella’s A Brighter Tomorrow Pediatrics lists pediatric immunizations as one of its services.
However, Farella spoke out against coronavirus vaccines in a 2021 Newsmax appearance, suggesting that “all kinds of things can be used to treat this virus,” including vitamin D and zinc.
“That’s the way to bring the pandemic under control. Not by vaccination,” Farella said at the time.
ACIP will meet on March 18th and 19th.
