UPDATE 3-Kennedy appoints five new members to US vaccine panel

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday appointed five new members to the revamped advisory panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy.

This comes ahead of the panel's meeting this week to review guidance on shots for hepatitis B, measles-mumps-rubella-varicella and COVID-19, in a closely watched session that could further reshape the federal vaccination policy. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic, dismissed all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June and installed a new, smaller panel, with members who have questioned aspects of mRNA and childhood vaccination. The committee will now have 12 members. The five new members will be taking part in this week's meeting, said HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon. The committee's new members are: Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who has examined cases of myocarditis related to COVID-19 vaccination. According to a news report from 2022, he backed the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin - both unproven treatments for COVID-19 - to treat the illness during the pandemic. Catherine Stein, an epidemiologist at Case Western Reserve University who argued against campus COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2022. Hilary Blackburn, a pharmacist based in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the daughter-in-law of Republican Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn. Raymond Pollak, a semi-retired transplant surgeon with a background in immunology. Evelyn Griffin, a Louisiana-based obstetrician who has called vaccine mandates for COVID-19 vaccines "a line in the sand" that should not have been crossed.

The committee members could not immediately be reached for comment. According to an internal CDC document obtained by Reuters earlier this month, HHS had directed the CDC to name seven new members to the committee, but two of those potential nominees - Joseph Fraiman and John Gaitanis - were not among those named on Monday.

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