ACIP Agenda for First Meeting Since Committee Was Replaced by RKF Jr Raises Questions for What's On It and What's Not

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is meeting June 25–26 amid national controversy following the dismissal of all 17 previous members by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who subsequently appointed 8 new members to replace them.

As of the meeting’s start this morning, the panel is operating short one of the original appointees, after Michael A Ross, MD, withdrew during the required financial holdings review.

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The draft agenda for the meeting, published online, includes voting on recommendations for vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) influenza, and COVID-19, as well as a vote on the vaccine preservative thimerosal, rarely used in vaccines today but long associated with debunked claims about links to autism.

Recommendations from the ACIP guide the use of vaccines to control vaccine-preventable diseases. The committee’s recommendations, in turn, guide the CDC as it develops the official immunization schedules for adults and children in the US, documents that have broad influence over vaccine policy and insurance coverage decisions.¹ According to multiple news outlets,^2-4 the panel’s composition and agenda have shifted sharply in the wake of the abrupt firings, with several of the newly appointed members holding well-documented antivaccine views. According to the New York Times,² these include Robert Malone, MD, known for spreading false claims about mRNA vaccines, and Retsef Levi, PhD, who has publicly stated that mRNA vaccines lead to cancer and are causing “serious harm including death, especially among young people,” a claim without scientific basis.²

The agenda for the June 25-26 meeting was to include discussions on vaccines against cervical cancer and pneumonia, according to an NPR report.³ With the firing of the previous committee, it became impossible for the related work groups to finish their work, which required active ACIP members in order to convene.³ The topics for the inaugural meeting now include issues described as “long-standing priorities for people who question vaccines.”³

The now 7-member group will be casting votes on the use of the preservative thimerosal in influenza vaccines, a topic that has raised questions. Though no longer used in most US vaccines, and present in only trace amounts in some multidose flu vials, it remains a focal point for antivaccine rhetoric^.2,3 Lyn Redwood, a former leader of Children’s Health Defense (founded by Kennedy), is slated to present on the topic in lieu of CDC staff.^2,3 “It will be hard to look away,” Jason Schwartz, PhD, associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, commented to NPR,³ referencing the meeting’s potential to reshape vaccine policy.

A second topic sowing confusion is a planned presentation on the risk of febrile seizures related to the MMR vaccine. The confusion comes from the fact that a second formulation of the vaccine was developed that included protection against varicella as well (MMRV) to reduce the number of early injections.⁴ After data demonstrated a 2-fold increase in risk of the seizures, the ACIP updated its guidance in 2008 to remove preference for the MMRV vaccine. In 2009 ACIP recommended separate administration of MMR and varicella vaccines, unless a parent expresses a preference.⁴

"It is possible that there are new data, but CDC experts with decades of experience haven't seen them," according to the staff of the Vaccine Integrity Project.⁴

Once an Apolitocal Committee

Several vaccine experts have raised concerns about the politicization of ACIP. “This has been an apolitical group of public servants… that this is being viewed, like the Supreme Court, in terms of who has a majority, is unprecedented,” Yale’s Schwartz said in the NPR interview.³ Former CDC official Fiona Havers, MD, resigned ahead of the meeting, citing the undermining of scientific integrity. “For my own scientific and personal integrity, I did not feel like I could present to this committee and help legitimize them,” she told NPR.³

The long-term implications for national immunization strategy remain uncertain. Critics say the panel’s current composition lacks adequate expertise in immunology, microbiology, and emerging vaccine technologies such as mRNA platforms. “People who have always trusted vaccines are now beginning to second-guess them… Parents have asked me about the accessibility and safety of future vaccines” Alexandra Cvijanovich, MD, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told NPR.³

Despite repeated requests, news outlets state, the Department of Health and Human Services has not responded to media inquiries. In a previous statement, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon defended the new members, calling them “highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians” who are “committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”⁵

References

1. Role of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in CDC's vaccine recommendations. CDC. September 17, 2024. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/acip/about/role-in-vaccine-recommendations.html
2. The New York Times. Vaccine Panel Gutted by Kennedy Loses a Member Ahead of First Meeting. June 24, 2025.
3. NPR. RFK Jr.'s picks for CDC vaccine advisers meet this week amid controversy. June 25, 2025.
4. Vaccine Integrity Project Staff. Viewpoint: CDC's upcoming vaccine advisory meeting set up to sow distrust in vaccines. CIDRAP. June 23, 2025. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project/viewpoint-cdcs-upcoming-vaccine-advisory-meeting-set-sow-distrust
5. CNBC. CDC vaccine panel holds first meeting since RFK Jr. put immunization critics in place. June 25, 2025.