A group of public health figures has launched a new project they hope will “shore up U.S. vaccination policy,” which they believe is under threat from U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The “Vaccine Integrity Project,” launched Thursday, is funded by iAlumbra, a nonprofit founded by Walmart heiress and philanthropist Christy Walton. It will be based at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., CIDRAP director and a member of the COVID-19 Advisory Board under the Biden administration, said the project “acknowledges the unfortunate reality that the system that we’ve relied on to make vaccine recommendations and to review safety and effectiveness data faces threats.”
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and Dr. Harvey Fineberg, former president of the Institute of Medicine and current president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will co-chair an eight-member steering committee leading the initiative.
The group behind the project cited “a growing chorus of voices” in the U.S. questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines as one of the inspirations for launching the project, Fierce Biotech reported.
In an op-ed published in STAT News, Hamburg and Fineberg said the project will use “the best available evidence” to “safeguard vaccine policy, information and utilization.”
The project will hold information-gathering sessions with public health stakeholders and share its recommendations with “nongovernment entities … that are free of outside influence and focus on protecting Americans from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
According to a press release, the project’s recommendations will be “grounded in the best available science.”
Nebraska chiropractor Ben Tapper said statements like “best available science” are “code for whatever aligns with current Pharma-backed consensus.”
“It doesn’t mean objective or independent science — it means the curated, sanitized data that serves their interests. Real science welcomes dissent and scrutiny — this initiative clearly does not,” Tapper said.
Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children’s Health Defense, said the project’s claims that it will use the “best available science” are disingenuous “because they will not have access” to such data.
Sayer Ji, co-founder of Stand for Health Freedom and one of the so-called “Disinformation Dozen,” said:
“When they say, ‘best available science,’ one must ask: ‘best for whom?’ Science, when selectively curated by institutional gatekeepers, often serves industry interests. Integrity begins with transparency, diversity of viewpoint and accountability — none of which are structurally baked into this initiative.”
Does vaccine project aim to replace Kennedy’s CDC?
Osterholm said the Vaccine Integrity Project may launch a committee that will evaluate the scientific evidence supporting individual vaccines — a task currently performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Yet according to Osterholm, the Vaccine Integrity Project is not intended to serve as a shadow or parallel version of the ACIP.
“Let me be clear, there is no alternative to the ACIP,” Osterholm said.
However, in their op-ed, Hamburg and Fineberg described the Vaccine Integrity Project as a form of insurance. “The U.S. needs an alternative organization to protect vaccine guidance from political interference.”
“Should ACIP or FDA processes or scientific evaluation become compromised, America cannot afford to be left without any organized systems to ensure that evidence grounded in science continues to guide decisions about the use of vaccines,” Hamburg and Fineberg wrote.
But according to Jablonowski, “Given the political polarization on vaccines, this is the creation of a committee that may replace ACIP when the administration changes in a few short years.”
Tapper said the Vaccine Integrity Project seeks to undercut the Kennedy-led HHS, which oversees the FDA and CDC.
“It’s unaccountable. HHS, a government body, can’t technically block it, but this effort undercuts HHS authority and makes it harder for the public to discern where ‘official’ health guidance ends and elite-backed narratives begin. It’s private influence wearing a lab coat,” Tapper said.
Ji agreed. He said the Vaccine Integrity Project, while “ostensibly advising the private sector,” may engage in “backdoor policy enforcement via soft power, media influence or corporate pressure campaigns.”
“Whether HHS can formally intervene is unclear, but any tacit cooperation would further blur the line between public policy and corporate lobbying masquerading as science,” Ji said.
Group could exert ‘deeply concerning’ influence over public policy
Ji said the new initiative is “populated by institutional actors with long-standing ties to Pharma and biosecurity policymaking.” Highlighting Hamburg’s tenure at the helm of the FDA, he said it was “marked by regulatory capture and conflicts of interest.”
According to Tapper, this included “conflicts of interest related to her husband’s hedge fund’s ties to drug companies.”
Ji noted that Fineberg “has long been a bridge between academia and biosecurity narratives that normalize coercive public health.”
Tapper described Osterholm as a longtime “mouthpiece for the establishment view on pandemics and vaccines” whose “lockdown stance and fear-based messaging were infamous.”
The involvement of Hamburg, Fineberg and Osterholm reflects the “revolving door” between public regulators and private industry, Tapper said, which raises ethical concerns.
“Pushing a centralized, privately funded group to influence vaccine policy and messaging could blur the lines between public health advocacy and private agenda-pushing,” Tapper said.
“Legally, while they may attempt to avoid the appearance of being a formal regulatory body, the influence this group may exert over public policy and private sector compliance is deeply concerning,” Ji said.
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Links between new initiative, Walmart heiress, Gates Foundation questioned
The Vaccine Integrity Project will receive $240,000 from iAlumbra — “a collective of organizations committed to demonstrating and catalyzing models for economic growth that restore the environment, honor community, and advance health and prosperity.”
The funding comes in the form of an unrestricted grant, giving the project the freedom to use the funding as it sees fit.
Tapper noted that as an “essential business” and pharmacy chain, Walmart was one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s major beneficiaries.
“When one of the richest families in America — owners of a massive retail and pharmacy chain that profited enormously during lockdowns — funds a vaccine influence campaign, it’s fair to ask: what’s in it for them?” Tapper asked.
Jablonowski suggested that Walton’s involvement will help further industry capture of the new initiative.
“Hamburg, described as cozy with industry, is cozying up with Walton, the epitome of industry. The outcome of the steering committee is going to be industry-friendly recommendations,” Jablonowski said.
Hamburg is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Gates Foundation.
In October 2024, Walton funded the Michael T. Osterholm Endowed Chair in Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
“Walton’s support of Osterholm’s chair at the University of Minnesota shows a troubling consolidation of influence: media, academia, corporate and philanthropic power merging under the banner of ‘science,’” Ji said.
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