US CDC postpones vaccine advisers’ February meeting

By Michael Erman

Feb 19 (Reuters) – A U.S. vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for later this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not be held, with no new dates announced, according to a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stepped up efforts to rewrite national vaccination policy, including dropping broad recommendations for six childhood shots including COVID and hepatitis B, deepening federal support for states’ vaccine exemptions, and cutting funding for mRNA-based vaccine research.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which makes recommendations for who should get which vaccines, had been scheduled to meet from February 25-27, according to the CDC’s website.

The committee’s recommendations typically have affected U.S. health insurance coverage, state policies on vaccines needed for schools and how physicians advise parents and patients. The panel faced multiple revamps last year, after Kennedy fired all its 17 members in June.

The change comes as leadership at the CDC is shifting. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will step in as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Trump administration official said on Wednesday, replacing current acting director Jim O’Neill.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by David Gregorio)