A group of public health figures has launched a new project they hope will “shore up U.S. vaccination policy,” which they believe is under threat from U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The “Vaccine Integrity Project,” launched Thursday, is funded by iAlumbra, a nonprofit founded by Walmart heiress and philanthropist Christy Walton. It will be based at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., CIDRAP director and a member of the COVID-19 Advisory Board under the Biden administration, said the project “acknowledges the unfortunate reality that the system that we’ve relied on to make vaccine recommendations and to review safety and effectiveness data faces threats.”
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and Dr. Harvey Fineberg, former president of the Institute of Medicine and current president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will co-chair an eight-member steering committee leading the initiative.
The group behind the project cited “a growing chorus of voices” in the U.S. questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines as one of the inspirations for launching the project, Fierce Biotech reported.
In an op-ed published in STAT News, Hamburg and Fineberg said the project will use “the best available evidence” to “safeguard vaccine policy, information and utilization.”
The project will hold information-gathering sessions with public health stakeholders and share its recommendations with “nongovernment entities … that are free of outside influence and focus on protecting Americans from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
According to a press release, the project’s recommendations will be “grounded in the best available science.”
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