CDC Drops Outside Experts From Vaccine Policy Panels

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told physician associations, public-health organizations and infectious-disease experts that they will no longer participate in the working groups that shape federal vaccination policy, according to a Bloomberg report confirmed by Reuters. The change affects the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the panel that reviews data on vaccines cleared by the Food and Drug Administration before the CDC issues use recommendations. In an email viewed by Bloomberg, the agency said it wants ACIP work to remain “free of influence from any special interest groups,” adding that liaison organizations are, by definition, biased toward the populations they represent. Groups excluded include the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Nurses Association. The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services have not commented on the decision. The move follows Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s June dismissal of all 17 ACIP members and their replacement with seven individuals, some of whom have expressed skepticism about vaccines. The latest step further concentrates control over the committee’s deliberations as the administration pursues a broader restructuring of HHS agencies and staffing.