ACIP Meeting Postponed. Just a Delay or a Fortelling of Kennedy’s Vaccine Agenda?

The February meeting of the outside committee of experts that advises the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy has been postponed in what some fear may be an early move by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to undercut federal vaccine policy.

The committee, which is called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), was scheduled to be held Feb. 26-28.

Stat, a biotech and health news website, broke the news yesterdy that the ACIP meeting had been postponed. Later in the day a statement was posted on the ACIP website that said: “The ACIP meeting will be postponed to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting. The ACIP workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present at the upcoming ACIP meeting.”

Groups tracking ACIP activities had noticed that the usual means for making public comments prior to the meeting were not up and running, a possible foreshadowing the meeting was not going to happen as planned,.

In separate development yesterday, Stat and NPR reported that the CDC had halted an advertising campaign that encouraged people to get vaccinated against the flu.

The postponement of an advisory committee meeting is usually not major news. But ACIP only meets three times a year, and its recommendations, although not binding, influence CDC recommendations that, in turn, shape the vaccine policies and recommendations of state and local governments, professional groups and health insurers.

President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s swearing-in ceremony.

More importantly, any decision by Kennedy that is related to vaccines will be drawing special scrutiny. Kennedy’s confirmation hearings focused primarily on his views on vaccines because of his history of questioning their safety and efficacy.

“After saying anything to on-the-fence senators to get confirmed, RFK Jr. is now showing his true colors as the anti-science, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist he always has been,” Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, an advocacy organization supported by unions, academics and Democrats, said in prepared statement yesterday.

If the ACIP meeting is not rescheduled quicky, it will be an “early sign of concern that access to vaccines will be undermined,” said Candace DeMatteis, J.D., vice president, policy and advocacy, for Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease, in an interview with MHE. Her group, which includes pharmaceutical companies that makevaccines among is supporters, circulated an open letter yesterday calling for the rescheduling of the ACIP meeting, saying that holding the meeting soon would represent “an early follow-through” from the administration and the new HHS secretary “to ensure Americans receive the information needed to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable illnesses, confirming immunization’s importance in the mission to make America healthier.”

Candace DeMatteis, J.D.

The letter also says that aside from particular topics and votes, ACIP meetings create an ”invaluable touch point within the scientific community” and help “cultivate relationships, promote agility, and develop the collaborative, data-driven problem solving required to respond efficiently to a public health crisis.”

It also notes that there’s typically a public comment period before the ACIP meetings and that on the online portal for comments was not available prior to the February meeting.

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America were among the groups that signed the letter.

The letter was addressed to Kennedy; Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chair of the Senate health committee; and Susan Monarez, Ph.D., acting director of the CDC.

Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who had led hepatitis B vaccines campaign in Louisiana before entering politics, wound up voting for Kennedy’s confirmation. But he questioned Kennedy closely about his views on the links between vaccinations and autism during his confirmation hearings to which Kennedy gave qualified answers.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, delivering his speech on the Senate floor explaining his support of the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary.

In a speech on the Senate floor explaining his support for Kennedy, Cassidy said he had gotten a commitment from Kennedy that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoringsystems and maintain ACIP “without changes.”

Politico reported yesterday that Kennedy is considering replacing members of advisory committees, including ACIP, who he believes have conflicts of interest.

The other two scheduled ACIP meetings this year are slated to be held on June 25-26 and October 22-23.

DeMatteis said the timing of the February meeting is important because health plans often start making coverage decisions, including decisions that concerning vaccines, for the subsequent year in late spring and early summer.

A draft agenda for the now-postponed February meeting included votes concerning meningococcal, chikungunya, flu and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines.