Are vaccines chosen in an open process?
No. Some of the ACIP meetings which decide on vaccine recommendations are open to the public. The minutes of those meetings are public records, but are not on the web and the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) must be used to get the older minutes. (Contact Ms. Gloria Kovach, ACIP secretary, gak1@cdc.gov, 1-404-639-7250, or Dr. Dixie Snider, Office of the Director, CDC.) But there are also closed portions of meetings, and ACIP members are forbidden to discuss those sessions without CDC approval. Also, drug companies provide the ACIP with secret information which the ACIP uses to make its decisions but which the ACIP never reveals. According to the ACIP charter: The Department’s Standards of conduct prohibit “speaking” on matters related to an ACIP member’s official duties outside committee or working group meetings. Members may discuss the public meeting and their views, but should be careful not to disclose any proprietary information. Regarding closed portions of committee meetings, o
