CDC leadership accused of stifling vaccine effectiveness studies and reshaping advisory committee role

Ben Lopman, a professor of epidemiology and global health at Emory University, wrote an opinion piece warning that CDC leadership is trying to manufacture a scientific debate about vaccines where none exists.

He points out that the agency blocked the publication of its own staff’s study on Covid‑19 vaccine effectiveness, citing methodological concerns, and that a new HHS charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reduces the committee’s role in evaluating vaccines and shifts its focus toward alternatives.

Lopman argues that undermining the tools and surveillance networks used to measure vaccine performance could leave the United States less able to monitor the effectiveness of Covid‑19, flu, RSV vaccines and any future products, highlighting ongoing disruption within the CDC.