I watched today's ACIP meeting, and it was a mess. This is the committee responsible for making evidence-based vaccine policy. Yet the discussion was filled with confusion, lies, and disorganization.

Members made many inaccurate claims. For example, they made it sound like a universal recommendation is a mandate. Parents have always had the option to delay or deny if they wanted.

There was also lots of confusion and lies around things like general risk of Hep B and why a birth dose of the Hep B vaccine is valuable (more on that later).

Even more concerning? They couldn't agree on the wording of the actual votes. After a lot of back and forth and confusion they delayed the Hepatitis B vaccine vote AGAIN (it was suppose to be in Sept meeting, then today, and now to tomorrow) because several members said they hadn't even seen the voting language enough in advance.

That means most members didn't understand what they were voting on. For a committee that shapes national vaccine guidance, that's unacceptable.

The level of confusion, lack of preparation, and false information on display today should concern everyone who cares about making our countries inhabitants more healthy.

Tomorrow's meeting will likely be even worse, as Aaron Siri, an anti-vaccine lawyer, is presenting. He's doing this despite spearheading lawsuits (ongoing ones right now) related to vaccines. This is an unacceptable conflict of interest. We cannot trust anything he presents, as he has a vested financial interest in sowing doubt in vaccines.

The recommendations of this committee affect access, medical choices and health outcomes for millions. We all deserve better.