New Chair of CDC Vaccine Panel Fired
The man tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice was removed from his pediatric practice, according to his wife. Kirk Milhoan was removed after the committee recommended changing its guidance on the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.
The new guidance advises parents to wait two months to give their baby the hepatitis B vaccine if the mother tests negative for the virus. Previous guidance, enacted in the 1990s, recommended administering the vaccine immediately after birth because the disease can be transmitted by people other than the baby’s mother.
Her husband was appointed to be the ACIP chair shortly before the panel voted to no longer recommend a birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine to all newborns, reserving that recommendation only for those born to mothers who test positive for the virus. The vote was widely derided by medical societies such as the American Medical Association and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Kimberly Milhoan claimed the dismissal was due to the practice receiving an “overwhelming number of calls to their organization demanding his firing for his role on ACIP.”
“The greatest irony is my husband has been a vaccine advocate throughout his career. He never denied risk, and respected principles of autonomy and informed consent, but believed, and recommended, that in most cases the benefit outweighed the risk associated with vaccines,” she wrote.
On the ACIP’s roster, Kirk Milhoan is listed as medical director at the For Hearts and Souls Free Medical Clinic, which he runs with his wife. He’s also publicly listed as being affiliated with Christus Health in Irving, Texas, in the pediatric cardiology department.
“Dr. Kirk Milhoan is an independent medical staff member of multiple CHRISTUS hospitals, and he continues to be a member in good standing,” Christus Health said in a statement when reached by The Hill.
