Experts Blast Plan to Alter CDC Vaccine Panel’s Expertise Requirements

Infectious disease experts warned that the renewed charter for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) could become a revolving door for the return of vaccine-skeptical members.

According to a notice in the Federal Register, the new charter would widen the door to potential membership beyond ACIP’s past emphasis on expertise in immunization practices, a move that follows a federal judge’s ruling that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures when he revamped the CDC’s influential vaccine panel in 2025.

“Because ACIP recommendations guide insurance coverage and the administration of vaccines, the committee’s charter must continue to require that members have relevant vaccine expertise,” said Ronald Nahass, MD, the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, in a statement.

The judge’s March ruling blocked the appointment of the ACIP members under Kennedy as well as an order to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, some forms of meningitis, and respiratory syncytial virus. The halts are temporary, pending either a trial or a decision for summary judgment.

In his ruling, the federal judge questioned the expertise of many of Kennedy’s handpicked committee members, noting that “of the 15 members currently on ACIP, even under the most generous reading, only six appear to have any meaningful experience in vaccines — the very focus of ACIP.”

According to the Federal Register notice, ACIP’s balance of specialty areas will now include “biostatistics, toxicology, immunology, epidemiology, pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, nursing, consumer issues, state and local health department perspective, academic perspective, public health perspective, etc.”

Kennedy is “going to still try to do what he can to manipulate the system so that he can have people on that committee who are not vaccine experts,” Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told MedPage Today. “He is on a mission, and that mission is to make vaccines less available, less affordable, and more feared.”

Nahass said that any changes to the ACIP charter must be made transparently and with input from the public.

“Secretary Kennedy’s blatant dismantling of the nation’s vaccine infrastructure over the past year underscores that robust oversight will be critical for any changes to the ACIP charter,” he said. “Maintaining the integrity of the ACIP charter is a vital step to prevent the further decimation of vaccine infrastructure and access in the U.S.”

Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the entire 17-member ACIP panel last June and replaced it with a group that included multiple anti-vaccine voices.

Those actions and others resulted in a lawsuit from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health organizations to stop the scaling back of the nation’s childhood vaccination schedule.

Nahass also called on the ACIP charter to restore the contribution of liaison members to ACIP’s discussions and decisions. The CDC announced last July that multiple medical and healthcare organizations that have historically helped ACIP develop vaccine recommendations could no longer participate as liaisons in ACIP workgroups, noting that the workgroups needed to “remain free of influence from any special interest groups.”

“The lack of collaboration with clinicians and absence of a scientific foundation in ACIP’s recommendations have left both patients and clinicians confused and concerned about where to turn for trustworthy vaccine guidance,” said Nahass.