The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has chosen Retsef Levi, a member of its key vaccine panel, to lead its COVID-19 immunization workgroup, Reuters reported on August 25. “Levi had critiqued mRNA vaccines in the past, saying they can cause serious harm and death, especially among children, and called for their immediate withdrawal,” Reuters’ Mariam Sunny wrote.

Joseph Choi with The Hill wrote that a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed that Retsef Levi, professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management, had been selected to lead the working group.

“Levi was among the eight new members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) selected by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he fired all standing members earlier this year,” Choi reported.

“The CDC’s COVID-19 working group was created in 2020 to discuss immunization recommendations as the pandemic evolved. The group is meant to support the work of the ACIP through the review of available data and scientific knowledge,” Choi noted.

Tristan Manalac with BioSpace reported that the “COVID-19 immunization workgroup will function as a subgroup of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), as per the agency’s document. The subcommittee will primarily serve ‘to review relevant published and unpublished data, and clinical and scientific knowledge’ and come up with ‘options’ that it will then present to ACIP during public meetings to help the advisory panel craft vaccination recommendations.”

“Levi’s vaccine skepticism was on full display during the most recent ACIP meeting in June, when the panel was supposed to—but ultimately did not—vote on COVID-19 immunization guidelines. Even when faced with evidence showing that vaccines containing thimerosal are safe, Levi declined to agree,” Manalac wrote.

Additionally, Manalac reported, “Levi was also one of two panelists who voted against recommending Merck’s respiratory syncytial virus antibody Enflonsia for use in infants—a recommendation ACIP ultimately endorsed.”