The first meeting of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory committee since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary has been postponed, the department confirmed.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was set to meet from Feb. 26 to 28 and discuss and vote on multiple vaccine issues, including recommendations for the use of a meningitis vaccine in infants and new recommendations on influenza and RSV vaccines.
There was no timeframe given for when the meeting would be rescheduled.
“The ACIP meeting will be postponed to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email. “The ACIP workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present at the upcoming ACIP meeting.”
The ACIP convenes three times a year to advise the CDC on vaccine issues, but the agency doesn’t have to follow the recommendations. However, if the CDC director signs off on the panel’s recommendations, ACIP-recommended vaccines must be covered by health insurance.
ACIP members aren’t government employees. The panel includes up to 18 voting members representing clinical medical fields as well as public health professionals, as well as at least one consumer representative.
Members of the public can submit comments online through an official portal for two weeks ahead of the meeting, as well as register for a lottery to make comments live during the meeting. But the online portal was never activated, leaving the public unable to submit comments.
The postponement comes amid growing fears about the panel’s future under an HHS led by Kennedy, one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine activists. Kennedy and his allies have long alleged ACIP members are corrupting HHS’s research priorities through conflicts of interest, and during his confirmation hearing pledged to root out conflicts of interest.
An executive order issued by President Trump on Wednesday also targets federal advisory committees for review and possible termination “on [the] grounds that they are unnecessary,” including ACIP.
As of early Thursday afternoon, ACIP members were not notified of any changes to the meeting schedule, according to Dr. H. Keipp Talbot, the panel’s chair.
The Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease and 50 medical organizations and experts, including the American Medical Association, sent a letter to Kennedy and acting CDC Director Susan Monarez urging them to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible.
“Making America healthy requires healthy discussion and timely, evidence-based decisions. This meeting should be no different,” they wrote. “Rescheduling this critical meeting … would represent a meaningful early follow-through from the Trump administration and its new HHS Secretary to ensure Americans receive the information needed to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable illnesses, confirming immunization’s importance in the mission to make America healthier.”
