Osterholm: Federal health agency cuts, vaccine misinformation are 'urgent' issues

With federal vaccine funding up in the air, a University of Minnesota researcher announced Thursday a new project intended to safeguard vaccine information, research and access in case the federal government doesn't.

The Vaccine Integrity Project comes from Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. He spoke with MPR News host Tom Crann about the project.

Below is a transcript of their conversation, edited for time and clarity.

So, this project, how long has it been in the works? In other words, when did it become apparent to you it was needed?

Well, I think after the election, and with the suggestion that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might be named as the Secretary of Health Human Services, there were many of us that were extremely concerned about what would that mean for the use of science in making public health policy decisions, and specifically around the area of vaccines.

Mr. Kennedy is well known for having shared a great deal of mis- and disinformation about vaccines, and therefore we begin considering the fact that, well, how could we get good information out? We weren't fully prepared to see, however, what was happening with the federal agencies, namely the CDC, the FDA and the NIH in terms of how they were basically censored and what information they put out or put forward, and that many of the senior experts in those agencies were no longer with the agency. And so at that point, it became more of an urgent issue.

Here in the U.S., vaccine policy has typically fallen under the umbrella of public health, typically a federal government responsibility. So a lot of people might be saying, ‘Can a private group have the reach and influence to truly be the country's oversight or be the backstop on this?’ Is that possible?

Well, first of all, let me be really very clear, we will never, or no one will ever replace the ACIP or organizations like that. They are mandated by law to provide the kind of information support and evaluation for vaccines that they do right now, but we can do a lot to shore up shortages and information or misinformation if that be the case, and provide also context so that if decisions are made, for example, at the ICIP that are counter to good science, we will be in a position to challenge those and provide the kind of information that the medical community, the public health community and parents need.

Now, earlier this week, RFK Jr, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, said he's considering pulling the COVID vaccine from the list of vaccines recommended for children. So, what have you heard about that? And what's your reaction?

Let me remind you that one of the programs that we all support very, very much in this country and particularly in kids, is influenza vaccination. Last year in this country, we had roughly the same number of kids die from COVID as we did from flu. And so the question is, if we're going to continue to recommend it for flu, why would we not recommend it for kids in terms of COVID?

We are well aware of the fact that there is a move in this country right now to distance themselves from this mRNA technology that we use for the vaccine, even though we know it's safe, even though we know that millions of lives were saved because of that technology during COVID.

You know, we understand that using mRNA technology is going to be challenging for some. Again, that's another reason why we're around right now. To try to provide that context.

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