The new chair of the committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was fired, then rehired, by his employer, according to his wife.
Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Texas terminated Dr. Kirk Milhoan, chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), “because of the overwhelming number of calls to their organization demanding his firing for his role on ACIP,” Dr. Kimberly Milhoan wrote on Substack on Dec. 11.
The termination came after Kirk Milhoan was part of a majority of ACIP members who voted to advise the CDC to stop recommending universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns.
“My husband has been fired because of public outrage that he would choose to participate in scientific medical debate (in service to his country, I’d add) and make recommendations based on the best available evidence, even if that required a modification of previous practice, in support of principles of medical ethics,” Kimberly Milhoan stated.
Kirk Milhoan, who did not return requests for comment, shared the post on X.
Driscoll Children’s Hospital, which has received $4.3 million in research payments in recent years from pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, which manufactures a hepatitis B vaccine, did not respond to requests for information on the termination.
The Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the CDC, did not return an inquiry by publication time.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., head of the department, in September named Kirk Milhoan to ACIP. Kirk Milhoan became chair earlier this month when Martin Kulldorff, who had been chair, joined the department.
Dr. Robert Malone and Retsef Levi, two other ACIP members, were among those decrying the development.
“Disgraceful!” Levi wrote on X.
Dr. Joseph Varon, a professor at the University of Houston College of Medicine and president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance, where Kirk Milhoan is a senior fellow, said in a statement that the hospital “removed a man of extraordinary compassion and scientific rigor because he chose to guide public health with honesty rather than ideology.”
Kimberly Milhoan said on Dec. 12 that her husband had been “un-fired,” citing a phone call with an official at Driscoll. She and her husband had been in Hong Kong for a medical conference.
“I am updating this status during a layover,” she wrote on Substack on Dec. 12. “We are truly humbled by all who came to Kirk’s defense.”
ACIP Member Named Louisiana’s Surgeon General
Another member of ACIP, Dr. Evelyn Griffin, was appointed on Dec. 8 as the surgeon general of Louisiana.
“Dr. Evelyn Griffin embodies the expertise and commitment that the people of Louisiana deserve in a Surgeon General,“ Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement. ”Her clinical experience, her leadership in advancing maternal health, and her dedication to strengthening the doctor-patient relationship make her the exact right choice for this role.”
Griffin, an obstetrician-gynecologist, also voted in favor of removing the universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation.
“I am committed to safeguarding the integrity of the patient-doctor relationship by upholding informed consent and respecting individual rights,“ Griffin said in a statement. ”I am grateful to Governor Landry for the appointment of Surgeon General and for his leadership in prioritizing healthcare.”
Griffin replaces Dr. Ralph Abraham, who recently became the CDC’s principal deputy director.
Jim O'Neill, the deputy health secretary, is currently the CDC’s acting director. President Donald Trump fired the only Senate-confirmed CDC director, Susan Monarez, during his second term, after she and Kennedy disagreed over how to handle advice from ACIP.
