CDC vaccine committee faces delay as RFK Jr. takes charge at HHS

The Trump administration is delaying an upcoming public meeting of an independent panel of experts who make recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines.

The meeting was slated to be the first gathering of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices under Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department includes the CDC.

Doctors and public health leaders are closely watching the fate of the vaccine committee, which consists of up to 19 voting members, under Secretary Kennedy because it’s instrumental to CDCs’ vaccine policymaking.

The committee makes recommendations for the agency’s vaccine schedule for children and adults. The panel also helps determine which vaccines get covered by health insurance and the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides vaccines free to eligible children.

A written public comment period for the meeting was set to open up on Feb. 3 and run through Feb. 17, according to the meeting notice in the Federal Register. During the meeting, members of the public also have an opportunity to speak.

The committee’s workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present “at an upcoming meeting,” HHS’ Nixon said.

It’s not clear when the meeting will be held. The website for the vaccine committee says it’s “Postponed, Date TBA.”

The delay comes on the heels of a new executive order from President Trump calling for the elimination of some federal advisory committees and for a list to be drawn up in the next 30 days of other committees that “should be terminated on grounds that they are unnecessary.”

Some are already voicing concern about the cancelled meeting.

On Thursday, a noofit called Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease circulated a letter, signed by a handful of doctors and organizations, calling for the CDC’s acting director and Secretary Kennedy to reschedule the meeting and hold public comment.