If the FDA won’t act, ACIP may have to

A rift is emerging between the FDA and the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel over mRNA Covid shots. The FDA stands by the products, potentially forcing ACIP to consider the liability shield.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not removing the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines from the market — and over the past year it has made that clear through both action and inaction.

In September last year, during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an FDA official said the agency would examine concerns about excessive residual DNA identified by independent researchers in mRNA vaccine vials.

That review has not been released.

The FDA also declined to add a black box warning to the products despite early indications that child deaths caused by Covid vaccination were being examined — a report the agency has yet to publish.

It has also delayed responding to a formal citizen petition calling for suspension of the mRNA Covid-19 injections, citing “the existence of other FDA priorities.”

The pattern is consistent. There has been no move toward suspension, restriction or withdrawal.

That position was reinforced this week when FDA Commissioner Dr Marty Makary said publicly that the agency “supports mRNA vaccines.”

But signs of a rift surfaced inside the federal advisory system last month.