CDC Vaccination Meeting Postponed After RFK Jr. Appointment at HHS

The Associated Press reported that experts who advise the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy will not meet this week.  

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) was named Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary of Feb. 13. The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was to be the first meeting since he was sworn in. ACIP meets three times a year, typically in February, June, and October, the Associated Press reported. 

RFK criticized ACIP during his confirmation process, and ACIP is one of the federal advisory committees being reviewed under an executive order issue by President Donald Trump on Feb. 19. RFK also stated he would investigate the childhood vaccine schedule when speaking to HHS employees last week. Vaccines for dangerous diseases, such as measles and polio, would be reviewed. 

According to the now-postponed meeting agenda, ACIP topics for the meeting included a new meningitis vaccine, a vaccine to prevent a mosquito-borne illness called chikungunya, and RSV and influenza vaccines.