Less than a week after newly confirmed Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioned the integrity of experts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory committee, the agency has postponed the group’s meeting next week.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was set to meet in Atlanta Feb. 26-28 and weigh in on new and updated vaccines.
On its website, the CDC confirmed the postponement “to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting,” it said.
“The ACIP workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present at the upcoming ACIP meeting," the agency said in a notice on its website.
The HHS did not respond to an email asking when the meeting would be rescheduled.
Among several topics on the agenda (PDF), which remains posted on the CDC website, the experts were prepared to vote on recommendations for GSK’s 5-in-1 meningococcal shot and Bavarian Nordic’s chikungunya vaccine. The FDA approved both in separate nods last week.
Before RFK Jr. was confirmed, Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-Louisiana, who cast a key vote to swing his nomination, assured the Senate in a floor speech that RFK Jr. would “maintain” the ACIP “without changes.”
But, soon after he was sworn in, RFK Jr. voiced his distrust of advisory committees that establish “nutrition guidelines” and the “vaccine guidelines” to Laura Ingraham of Fox News.
“In the past, these people—almost all of them—have severe, severe conflicts of interest, and that’s not good for our country,” he said.
In a letter (PDF) to RFK Jr., the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease (PFID) urged the agency to “preserve” the ACIP meeting.
"Making America healthy requires healthy discussion and timely, evidence-based decisions," the PFID wrote. "This meeting should to be no different."
RFK Jr. has long been an anti-vaccine activist, claiming that they haven’t undergone thorough testing and backing theories that have been debunked, including one that immunizations can cause autism.