Trump Administration Updates Vaccine Advisory Charter

The Trump administration has updated the charter of the United States — Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a key federal vaccine advisory committee, in ways that critics, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say may increase the voices of anti-vaccine activists and undermine confidence in life-saving shots. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, previously ousted all ACIP members and replaced them with his own picks, leading the revamped panel to decline recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines for high-risk populations and stop recommending most newborn hepatitis B shots. Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the administration also narrowed the childhood vaccine schedule. A federal judge recently agreed with a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics to block these steps, though the United States — United States Department of Health and Human Services has indicated it plans to appeal. The new charter broadens qualifications for panel members and echoes vaccine critics' wording about focusing on possible harms and cumulative effects of shots, which are considered settled science.