Health secretary’s effort to alter makeup of ACIP panel means no new recommendations coming – even as new vaccines are approved
US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, and some of the uncertainty may continue for years following major blows to vaccination by the Trump administration, experts say.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has made sweeping changes to vaccination policy, cutting childhood immunization recommendations by a third and replacing experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with his own handpicked allies.
A judge’s order halted these changes because they were not done correctly, but Kennedy has not nominated any new ACIP members – which means there are no new vaccination recommendations coming from the committee, even as new vaccines are approved.