Overview
- The newly constituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted this summer to eliminate thimerosal from flu vaccines despite CDC data showing no evidence of harm.
- In early August, HHS directed the CDC to remove liaison organizations such as the AMA and AAP from ACIP working groups, barring external health experts from private deliberations.
- The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading medical societies have filed lawsuits challenging Kennedy’s unilateral changes to vaccine recommendations.
- Senate Democrats on the HELP Committee, led by Bernie Sanders, opened a formal investigation into the dismissal of all 17 ACIP members and subsequent vaccine policy shifts.
- Kennedy’s abrupt cancellation of a U.S. Preventive Services Task Force meeting indicates potential plans to reshape another key preventive care advisory committee.