US HHS names pediatric cardiologist Milhoan as chair of vaccine panel

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Dec 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday named pediatric cardiologist Kirk Milhoan as chair of the panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy.

This comes ahead of the revamped panel’s meeting this week, where members could potentially vote on policies concerning shots for hepatitis B.

Health secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been moving rapidly to rewrite U.S. vaccination policy, including dropping recommendations for COVID shots for pregnant women and children, directing states on limits to their vaccine mandates and cutting funding for mRNA-based vaccine research.

Kennedy appointed Milhoan to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) earlier this year after he fired all its members and replaced them with his own nominees. Milhoan had reportedly backed the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin – both unproven treatments for COVID-19 – to treat the illness during the pandemic.

Milhoan succeeds Martin Kulldorff, who had taken the reins in June. HHS did not immediately respond to Reuters’ queries regarding Kulldorff’s exit after a short stint.

Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was also handpicked by Kennedy to the revamped ACIP earlier this year, publicly criticized COVID-era lockdowns and was fired from Harvard for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Kulldorff will become chief science officer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, which provides policy advice to the Secretary, HHS said.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)