Newswise — Infectious disease experts from the University of Chicago Medicine and the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital are weighing in on today's news that President-elect Donald Trump is appointing a vaccination skeptic to oversee a presidential panel on vaccine safety. Here's what they had to say:

Robert S. Daum, MDProfessor of Pediatrics, University of ChicagoDirector, The University of Chicago MRSA Research CenterChairman, Illinois Immunization Advisory Committee

“If President-elect Trump has doubts and questions about the current vaccine policy, he might begin by consulting the individuals who made the policy and who reviewed the data. I am concerned by creating a new Commission on the subject, he is bypassing a lot of things that have already been done. Whether vaccines cause autism has been reviewed many times and found wanting. Thimerosal has not been documented to have hurt anyone and has largely been removed from the vaccine supply anyway.”

Daniel Johnson, MDProfessor of Pediatrics, University of ChicagoChief, Section of Academic Pediatrics"There's already many systems in place to provide oversight, to record data, which is constantly being reviewed by many in government and the scientific community. There is no need for still yet another system for doing this. If parents delay getting children vaccinated, it could cause increased harm, illness and potentially death from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines.”