Today, CIDRAP announced it is launching its Vaccine Integrity Project, which is an initiative that is designed to safeguard vaccine use in the US. It has a steering committee that will engage professionals across the country’s immunization landscape to gather feedback on how non-governmental entities may be able to help protect vaccine policy, information, and utilization.
Although not saying specifically the federal government’s changing approach to vaccines is the impetus for the project, one of the leaders of the project does want to ensure vaccine data and information is available for investigators, clinicians, and the general public.
“This 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,” Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, Regents professor and director of CIDRAP, said in a statement. “It is prudent to evaluate whether independent activities may be needed to stand in its place and how non-governmental groups might operate to continue to provide science-based information to the American public.”
The steering committee will be comprised of 8 leading public health and policy experts to make recommendations for how vaccine use can remain grounded in the best available science, free from external influence and focused on optimizing protection of individuals, families, and communities against vaccine-preventable diseases. The steering Committee co-chairs are Margaret Hamburg, MD, former Commissioner of the FDA and co-president of the InterAcademy Partnership, and Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, president, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, past president of the US National Academy of Medicine (previously Institute of Medicine).
