RFK Jr. is making good on his promise to radically reshape the vaccine policy landscape as he ousts the entire CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is making good on his promise to radically reshape the vaccine policy landscape as he ousts the entire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. In a press release issued by the Department of HHS on June 9th, Kennedy says he’s doing this in order to restore the public’s trust in vaccine science in America. It’s unknown who Kennedy will hire to replace committee members, but it’s possible they may share his skeptical views of vaccines. In turn, this could have the effect of increasing the public’s vaccine hesitancy.
ACIP advises the director of the CDC on which vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration should be used; for example, recommending which groups of people ought to be vaccinated, at what doses and when. For decades, ACIP’s guidance has been based on an independent, non-politicized review of the peer-reviewed scientific research as well as a debate among experts. ACIP’s guidance is not binding, though CDC almost always follows it and provides recommendations to the public on what is to be included in the United States adult and childhood immunization schedules.
Neither the Secretary of HHS nor the CDC director can unilaterally ban vaccines. But they can alter the CDC’s messaging, fire and hire ACIP committee members and revise vaccination scheduling.
Moreover, the Secretary of HHS together with heads of agencies under his oversight can pursue changes in guidance that restructure regulatory pathways for vaccine development and revise recommendations to the public on who should get vaccinated.
In a major policy shift last month, Food and Drug Administration officials proposed requiring new clinical trial research with respect to the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in healthy people under 65, including pregnant women, before issuing an updated approval for a broader population.
