Several top advisors on coronavirus vaccines at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have stepped down, expressing worries about their ability to assist vulnerable populations following recent changes in recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women.
In a message to a colleague, Lakshmipanagio Takopoulos described her resignation as “personal.”
“My career in public health and vaccinology started with a strong desire to support the most vulnerable among us. I don’t feel I can continue doing that in my current role,” she stated in an email, which was reviewed by The Hill.
She decided to leave on a Friday.
Reuters was the first to report her resignation.
Panagiotakopoulos has co-led the Coronavirus Vaccine Working Group, collaborating with agency staff and outside experts to support the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices (ACIP), which formulates vaccine policy recommendations.
The working group is dedicated to evaluating COVID-19 vaccines, assessing safety and efficacy data, and guiding ACIP recommendations.
The committee is scheduled to meet from June 25-27 to discuss and vote on the use of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Though Panagiotakopoulos’s email didn’t specify her reasons for leaving, it came shortly after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated on social media that the CDC no longer recommends COVID-19 vaccination for “healthy” children and pregnant women.
Previously, the CDC recommended the annual COVID-19 vaccine for everyone over six months of age.
Kennedy’s announcement altered the conventional vaccine policy process by bypassing ACIP altogether.
During earlier meetings in April, committee members shifted towards risk-based immunization strategies that focused on the most vulnerable, but no votes were held.
Last week, the CDC seemed to contradict Kennedy’s stance by continuing to recommend vaccinations for children after consultations with their doctors, while no longer advising pregnant women to receive shots.
