The first meeting of a critical federal vaccine panel was a high-profile display of how the US health secretary and vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr has injected chaos into vaccine policy infrastructure.
Wednesday’s meeting was held amid controversy, not only regarding the new members unilaterally appointed by Kennedy, but also the questions they would consider, their conflicts of interest and views on vaccines, and the scheduled speakers.
The panel, the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), develops recommendations for how to administer vaccines to the American public.
The ACIP meeting is high-stakes and will be widely watched within the scientific community, as former members argue that the nation’s vaccine approval, research and distribution systems are being dismantled.
The panel’s decisions are highly influential in deciding which vaccines the CDC ultimately recommends for children and adults. In turn, those recommendations form the basis of how health insurers decide which vaccines to cover, and thus have a direct impact on the price and availability of vaccines to the American public.
Experts consider the current situation so dire that outside groups are attempting to develop a system to provide vaccines to Americans in spite of Kennedy’s attempts to disrupt the system.
“What we’re seeing today, and if this were to continue, the medical public health professionals and the entire country are no longer going to trust ACIP,” said Dr Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health. “That’s very clear.”
Source: The Guardian, 25 June 2025
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