A top official on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which oversees updates to vaccine recommendations, has resigned, according to a CBS News report.
Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, MD, sent a letter to ACIP members June 3 to share news of her decision. She is a pediatric infectious diseases expert and served as co-leader of the committee’s work group on COVID-19 vaccines.
“My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role,” she wrote in the letter, which was obtained by CBS.
The CDC and Dr. Panagiotakopoulos have not responded to news outlets’ requests for comment.
Her exit comes a week after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the CDC no longer recommends healthy children and pregnant women receive routine COVID shots, drawing criticism from healthcare groups who said the move could limit access, given the agency’s official guidance on immunization schedules broadly influences insurer coverage and access to uninsured children supported by federal programs.
Two days after Mr. Kennedy’s announcement, the CDC updated its childhood immunization schedule to instead recommend a shared decision-making process for healthy children 6 months and older, meaning insurers will still be required to broadly cover vaccinations for this population.
Becker’s has reached out to the CDC and will update the report, should more information become available.
