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The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices now plans to meet March 18 and 19, according to updated information posted on the committee’s website at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No information had been posted Tuesday about what topics or votes will be on the meeting’s agenda, how the public can comment on agenda items, or even what time the meetings will start and end.
The committee, which meets three times a year, had long planned to meet this Wednesday through Friday in Atlanta. But as the meeting date approached, the committee failed to make public – as required – its planned agenda, jeopardizing its ability to meet legally, Healthbeat reported last week.
The cancellation also followed efforts in a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups that have sought to stop the group’s next meeting because of concerns that ACIP will take a vote that will result in removing funding for certain vaccines for children from low-income families or who lack adequate insurance.
Officials at the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to questions about the rescheduled meeting.
Federal advisory committees are required to give the public advance notices about their meeting agendas and other basic information about how the public can attend or watch the meetings. Historically committees were required to give at least 15 calendar days notice before a meeting, but in December the Trump administration reduced that to seven calendar days.
On Tuesday, the American Academy of Obstetricians & Gynecologists announced that it was withdrawing as a liaison member of the vaccine advisory committee, citing an array of concerns, including what it said was ACIP’s cherry-picking of data and unilateral changes to childhood and adolescent vaccination schedules without expert input.
“The recent reconstitution of the committee; the removal of ACOG experts from ACIP workgroups; and HHS’ unilateral changes to vaccine recommendations, which bypassed established scientific and clinical processes, represent a fundamental departure from the scientific rigor and impartiality that have been the hallmark of this committee for 60 years,” said ACOG President Dr. Steven J. Fleischman.
The committee had all of its scientific advisers replaced last summer by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Alison Young is Healthbeat’s senior national reporter. You can reach her at ayoung@healthbeat.org or through the messaging app Signal at alisonyoungreports.48
