Weldon, Maloney Introduce Vaccine Safety Bill

Measure Removes CDC’s Conflict of Interest; Helps Preserve Public Confidence in Vaccine Safety Research

Weldon Introduces Vaccine Safety Legislation

Washington, Apr 19 - At a press conference Thursday, U.S. Reps. Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced a bill that would give responsibility for the nation’s vaccine safety to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, removing most vaccine safety research from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Currently, the CDC has responsibility for both vaccine safety and promotion, which is an inherent conflict of interest increasingly garnering public criticism.

“There’s an enormous inherent conflict of interest within the CDC, and if we fail to move vaccine safety to a separate independent office, safety issues will remain a low priority and public confidence in vaccines will continue to erode,” said Weldon, noting that across the federal government similar conflicts of interests have been remedied, but with regard to mandatory childhood vaccines the conflict continues to persist unchecked. “This bill will provide the independence necessary to ensure that vaccine safety research is robust, unbiased, free from conflict of interest criticism, and broadly accepted by the public at large.”

To underscore the bill’s importance, Weldon highlighted the fact that a top CDC official urged the journal Pediatrics to publish a Danish study on the link between thimerosal and autism despite the CDC’s knowledge that this very same study was previously rejected by the highly acclaimed journals, JAMA and Lancet. The official urged the editor of Pediatrics to give the study, which he characterized as a “powerful epidemiology” study, an “expedited review.”

“The public has begun to question whether our government is doing all it can to ensure vaccine safety—and they are absolutely right to do so,” said Congresswoman Maloney. "When we in government require children to be vaccinated, we must make every possible effort to ensure that
vaccines are safe. I believe that this legislation will benefit nearly every child in America. I look forward to working with Dr. Weldon and our colleagues in the House to pass this incredibly important bill.”

Specifically, the Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2007 would create and equip an independent office to address, investigate, and head off potential vaccine safety problems—like the use of mercury in vaccines—in an objective and non-conflicted office whose sole purpose is vaccine safety and evaluation. Additionally, it provides $80 million in funding to conduct vaccine safety research and analysis.

Weldon and Maloney were joined by several groups advocating vaccine safety reform, including the National Autism Association, A-Champs, and SafeMINDS.