CDC Cuts Experts Out of Panels That Develop Vaccine Policy

"The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told physician groups, public health professionals and infectious disease experts that they will no longer be invited to help review vaccine data and develop recommendations, according to an email viewed by Bloomberg.

The move marks an escalation in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to assert control over the CDC’s vaccine advisory process. Under the change, external experts will be excluded from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ working groups — subcommittees that review data and develop policy recommendations — but they will still be able to participate in open public meetings.

The panel’s recommendations are important for vaccine access as they help determine which shots insurers are required to cover for free for patients. Kennedy in June fired all its members and replaced them with his own picks, including members who have criticized the safety of the Covid vaccine.

“It is important that the ACIP workgroup activities remain free of influence from any special interest groups, so ACIP workgroups will no longer include liaison organizations,” the email said. It also characterized the groups as biased “based on their constituency and/or population that they represent.”


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-01/cdc-cuts-experts-out-of-panels-that-develop-vaccine-policy?srnd=homepage-americas