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The February meeting of the federal vaccine advisory committee is canceled, with no new meeting date announced, Reuters reported on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said more information would be shared when available, but did not provide a reason for the cancellation.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides vaccine recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was scheduled to hold one of three annual meetings on Feb. 25-27, according to the CDC website.
However, HHS didn’t announce the meeting in the Federal Register, which the agency is required to do at least 15 days before the meeting, according to STAT.
Some reports said the meeting has been delayed until March, but HHS has not confirmed a new date.
ACIP’s membership roster and the committee’s recommendations have become a flashpoint in a national conversation over changing vaccine policy under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
They have sparked debate in the media, state legislatures, and in legal challenges brought by groups on both sides of the debate.
“Given the controversy now in the courts about the childhood vaccine schedule, it’s no surprise that the CDC would postpone the next ACIP meeting,” said Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD).
She added:
“There is a deep conflict within CDC and society about vaccines. The cancellation of the meeting is merely a reflection of that.
CHD sides with those that say this is an individual matter, between a child’s parents and their healthcare practitioner, as it should be for all medical procedures that require prior, free and informed consent.”
Soon after his confirmation last year, Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of the committee because their financial ties to pharmaceutical companies posed a conflict of interest.
Critics accused Kennedy of remaking the committee with members who share his allegedly “anti-vax” views on vaccines. However, even the most controversial changes recommended by the new committee have been modest.
The new committee members voted to:
- Postpone the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine until at least 2 months for infants not at risk for the disease. Starting at age 2 months, the recommendation is “shared clinical decision-making.”
- Recommend that COVID-19 vaccination be based on “individual decision-making” at a time when few people were opting for the vaccine.
- Recommend that thimerosal be eliminated from flu vaccines for children. Thimerosal was eliminated from all other child vaccines decades ago.
The committee played no role in Kennedy’s most controversial decision. In January, the CDC reduced the number of vaccines recommended as routine for all children from 17 to 11.
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ACIP meeting at center of lawsuit against HHS, Kennedy
The ACIP meeting delay comes less than a week after a Massachusetts federal judge heard oral arguments in a lawsuit the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other trade groups filed against HHS, Kennedy and others, challenging recent changes to vaccine policy.
The AAP asked the judge for a preliminary injunction to prevent ACIP from holding its scheduled February ACIP meeting, and to block changes Kennedy made to the childhood vaccine schedule in January.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy did not rule on the request. Instead, he gave HHS until 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, to respond to the AAP’s arguments in favor of their request for a preliminary injunction.
On Wednesday, CHD and a group of parents and doctors filed a motion asking the judge to allow them to join HHS and Kennedy as defendants in the AAP lawsuit, arguing that the court must also hear from people injured by previous U.S. vaccine policy.
ACIP recommendations to the CDC are typically approved or declined by the CDC director. Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill, who had replaced ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez, left HHS this week. President Donald Trump reportedly plans to nominate O’Neill to head up the National Science Foundation.
Politico reported that both O’Neill and HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart were moving to different positions in the Trump administration as part of a “shakeup” of HHS leadership.
On Wednesday, HHS announced that National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya will take over as acting CDC director until Trump announces a new nominee.
The CDC director position must be approved by the U.S. Senate.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Greg Thorne, a management officer at the CDC, told the staff of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease (NCIRD) that the upcoming ACIP meeting was canceled, according to STAT.
A communications officer at that meeting reportedly told staff that NCIRD no longer “owns” ACIP. The agency formerly provided the technical data and administrative support for ACIP.
Related articles in The Defender
- CDC Vaccine Panel Votes to End Universal Hep B Vaccine for Newborns
- RFK Jr.’s ‘Clean Sweep’ of CDC Vaccine Advisers Draws Mix of High Praise, Harsh Criticism
- Breaking: Children’s Health Defense Seeks to Intervene in High-Stakes Vaccine Lawsuit
- Breaking: Children’s Health Defense Hits AAP With RICO Suit Over Fraudulent Vaccine Safety Claims
- Breaking: HHS Makes Sweeping Changes to Childhood Vaccine Schedule
