A panel of experts that advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy will not meet as previously scheduled next week.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was slated to meet in Atlanta from Feb. 26 to 28 — the first gathering since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Health and Human Services secretary.
HHS director of communications Andrew Nixon confirmed Thursday the meeting was postponed, and the ACIP meetings website also reflected that. Nixon did not respond to a follow-up question about a new meeting date. The group meets three times a year, typically in February, June and October.
Kennedy was critical of ACIP during his confirmation process, and ACIP is on a list of federal advisory committees that are being reviewed, according to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Kennedy also vowed to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule that prevents measles, polio and other dangerous diseases when speaking to HHS employees at a welcome ceremony this week.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices advises the CDC director on how FDA-approved vaccines should be used; for example, recommending which groups of people should get shots and when. Its decisions are not binding, though agency directors almost always follow them.
ACIP members include several academics, a chief medical officer of a community health center, a state public health higher-up and the owner of a family medicine practice. One committee member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said they were informed of the meeting’s postponement from news reports.
According to the now-postponed meeting agenda, which was still available online as of Thursday afternoon, topics included a new meningitis vaccine, a vaccine to prevent a mosquito-borne illness called chikungunya, and RSV and influenza vaccines.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
