The 17 fired members of a federal vaccine committee say their abrupt termination and the appointment of new members “have left the US vaccine program critically weakened.”
The former members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) published an opinion piece in JAMA Monday in which they defended themselves from criticism lodged by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and expressed concerns about Kennedy making unilateral decisions about COVID-19 vaccine policy.
“As former ACIP members, we are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of US immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put US families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses,” they wrote.
The committee, which has been operating for more than 60 years, develops recommendations on how best to use vaccines after they are licensed or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. It also makes recommendations on immunization schedules for children and adults. Those recommendations impact which vaccines are covered by insurance. Members of the group historically have been independent medical and public health experts who do not work for the CDC.
Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine activism, ousted the entire committee on June 9, accusing members of being “a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas.”
The former ACIP members pushed back against that characterization saying they went through a thorough application process that can take up to two years. Even after they are vetted, they undergo additional monitoring and recuse themselves from votes in which they may have a conflict of interest.
Former group members also refuted Kennedy’s claims the country does not trust them, saying 99% of children have received at least some recommended vaccines by age 2 years.
“This does not suggest the population is so distrustful that it warrants dismantling the process by which vaccines have been recommended,” the former ACIP members wrote.
They called vaccines “one of the greatest global public health achievements” and cited a study showing routine vaccination prevented 508 million illness and 1.13 million deaths from 1994-2023.
Two days after terminating the group, Kennedy announced eight new members, including people with a history of voicing skepticism about vaccines and people who have been involved in spreading vaccine misinformation.
AAP President Susan J. Kressly, M.D., FAAP, said the appointments “confirm our fears and represent a radical departure from ACIP’s core mission.”
“We are witnessing an escalating effort by the Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines,” Dr. Kressly said when the terminations were announced. “Creating confusion around proven vaccines endangers families’ health and contributes to the spread of preventable diseases.”
Last week, the AAP delegation to the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates co-authored an emergency resolution calling on the AMA to demand Kennedy reverse the firings and ask a Senate committee to investigate Kennedy’s actions regarding the CDC and ACIP. The resolution also committed the AMA to investing in other vaccine advisory structures, as necessary.
ACIP is scheduled to meet on June 25-27. The agenda includes votes on vaccines for COVID-19, HPV, flu, meningococcal disease and respiratory syncytial virus, all of which have been under discussion and review for months by the terminated members.
In addition to studying new vaccines, Kennedy said he has tasked the new ACIP members with reviewing the safety and efficacy of the immunization schedules.
