A meeting of the US vaccine advisory panel that had been planned for later this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reportedly been postponed amid legal challenges the panel is facing over its validity.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides guidance on who should receive specific vaccines, had originally been set to convene from 25 to 27 February, according to the CDC’s website.
The postponement comes as health secretary and longtime vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr has intensified efforts to reshape federal vaccination policy. His moves include removing broad recommendations for six routine childhood immunizations, among them Covid and hepatitis B; increasing federal backing for state-level vaccine exemptions; and reducing financial support for research into mRNA-based vaccines.
The group central to US vaccine policy is pushing its upcoming session to next month while a Boston court considers a legal challenge from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the professional body representing the country’s pediatricians, questioning the committee’s legitimacy.
The panel is now expected to meet in March, although no specific date has been announced, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The committee evaluates which vaccines should be recommended for children and adults in the US and plays a key role in determining insurance coverage. Its recommendations have traditionally influenced health insurance coverage nationwide, state requirements for school vaccinations, and the guidance physicians provide to patients and parents.
The panel underwent several overhauls last year following Kennedy’s decision in June to remove and replace all of its members.
Many of the changes made to the childhood vaccine schedule are being led by Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine advisers, several of whom have expressed outsized fears of the very rare risks of side-effects of vaccines compared with the benefits of protecting against illness, hospitalization and death supported by decades of evidence.
The postponement comes amid broader leadership changes at the CDC. National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jay Bhattacharya will serve as acting director of the CDC, a Trump administration official said on Wednesday, taking over from current acting director Jim O’Neill.
Experts have raised concerns about vaccine safety following the changes made to ACIP and the spread of the Maha (“Make America healthy again”) movement. Last year, the panel made a controversial decision to end the longstanding recommendation that all infants receive the hepatitis B vaccine.
Last month, the ACIP’s top adviser said the committee was reconsidering all vaccine recommendations.
