Submitted written comments for the meeting must be received by the FDA via the Federal Register no later than May 15, 2024 at 11:59 Eastern Daylight Time. (People’s CDC has tips, suggestions, and sample letter.)
My public comment:
I’m concerned that there are people making decisions on vaccines that are anti-vax or anti-vax lite or who have been persuaded by anti-vax PR efforts – which seem to have a lot of money funding marketing campaigns against vaccination, and the government and healthcare providers are not doing a proper vaccination campaign. As a result the numbers getting up-to-date on covid vaccinations is in the toilet. Nevertheless, vaccine availability and authorization should NOT be based upon demand side politics that have been propagandized into the population. The vaccines should not be restricted from people who want to get vaccinated as much as is scientifically beneficial. Research and funding should be based on what’s medically correct, not on pseudoscience wellness influencers promoting unfounded fears. We should not all be punished for the poor choices of people believing disinformation and various agencies that are unwilling or unable to promote vaccination effectively.
What the workgroup said at the CDC ACIP meeting back in September 2023, remains true – Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD said: “I just wanted to point out that in Dr. Wallace’s slide 22, half of the children who died had no underlying conditions. There is no group that clearly has no risk from COVID. And even children and adults with no underlying conditions can still experience severe illness due to COVID. And we’re at a point now when vaccine and infection [inaudible] immunity is beginning to wane. We have these new variants that are emerging. We’re all becoming more susceptible.”