Overview
- The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will not meet next week and said more details will be provided, according to spokesperson Andrew Nixon.
- STAT first flagged the likely postponement after no Federal Register notice appeared within the required window, with federal rules calling for at least 15 days’ public notice for advisory committee meetings.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical associations asked a federal judge in Massachusetts to block the meeting as part of a lawsuit challenging changes to the childhood immunization schedule, with no decision issued as of Thursday.
- The session would have been the first since HHS announced an overhaul of the CDC childhood vaccine schedule last month, and the panel has faced heightened scrutiny following controversial votes, including on the timing of the hepatitis B shot.
- USA TODAY reported that an administration official said NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya will serve as acting CDC director, reflecting broader vaccine-policy shifts pursued by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that professional groups are contesting.