The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meets again this Thursday and Friday. These meetings are normally technical, evidence-based, and grounded in predictable procedures.
But in recent months, in a shift fueled by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s growing influence over the committee and the CDC’s public-facing materials, ACIP has drifted toward something more concerning: inflating speculative risks while downplaying well-established vaccine benefits. This imbalance has already surfaced in procedural irregularities, unsupported proposals, and confusing CDC communications, with the potential to disrupt vaccine access and public confidence at a time of rising infectious disease threats.
Kennedy has positioned himself as a champion of scientific rigor and radical transparency. Yet his early actions at the CDC tell a different story. He personally ordered revisions to CDC vaccine-safety webpages and announced changes to Covid-19 vaccine guidance — without new evidence and without CDC subject-matter review. These unilateral moves bypass the scientific guardrails and rigor he claims to value.
The result: CDC publications now introduce ambiguity where none exists. ACIP, though technically independent, can’t ignore an official website that implies uncertainty about long-settled science on vaccines. Kennedy has effectively created a policy-shaping source document that carries the CDC seal without CDC oversight.
The June meeting offered the first signs of a committee losing its footing. New members revisited and re-voted on issues the following day, evidence frameworks were sidelined, and voting language was drafted on the fly rather than through the normal public comment process. The September meeting went off the rails with impromptu presentations of data that lacked substantial evidence or peer review. When a scientific body stops following its own procedures, rigor and transparency both slip, and public trust erodes.
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The only formal vote at the Dec. 4-5 meeting involves the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose. However, loosely defined sessions on “CDC Vaccine Risk Monitoring Evaluation,” “Vaccine Schedule History,” and the “Childhood/Adolescent Immunization Schedule” could invite misapplied risk framing, especially given the CDC website’s new, ambiguous language that mirrors terminology previously seen on a “fake CDC website” linked to anti-vaccine groups. Even if the committee takes no drastic action, raising fringe concerns in an official forum can legitimize their ideological questions, an increasingly common tactic among newer members.
Misguided discussions don’t remain theoretical. They shape public perception, influence future votes, and trigger ripple effects in vaccine supply and coverage.
Altering the hepatitis B birth dose could destabilize the entire childhood schedule. Combination vaccines that include hepatitis B depend on stable timing. If timing shifts, combination products may become unusable, forcing a return to single-dose formulations that the U.S. currently lacks the capacity to produce. Manufacturing new standalone vaccines could take months to years, leaving gaps in protection and risking increases in hepatitis B and other vaccine preventable infections.
Aluminum, a critical adjuvant component of many routine childhood vaccines with decades of safety data, remains a favorite target among those alleging undefined dangers. Removing adjuvants would require new formulations, clinical trials, and regulatory review, jeopardizing availability of vaccines for hepatitis A and B, HPV, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, and more.
Such instability could send manufacturers a clear signal that the U.S. is no longer a predictable environment for vaccine production leading to fewer manufacturers and fewer available vaccines.
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The CDC’s revised vaccine-autism language, while not explicitly claiming causation, strongly implies that science cannot rule it out. This rhetorical device contradicts extensive evidence and opens the door for petitions to add autism to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) injury table, potentially unleashing tens of thousands of claims unsupported by science. VICP, the system that provides financial compensation to people who have been seriously injured by certain vaccines, could be depleted, and manufacturers might reconsider continuing in the U.S. market. This is more than poor communication; it sets the stage for litigation that undermines both science and vaccine access.
Reversing this trend in vaccine policy requires immediate and coordinated action.
First, the scientific community must reaffirm the proven benefits of routine vaccination, especially the hepatitis B birth dose, which prevents infections from mothers, caregivers, and household contacts.
Second, professional societies and public health organizations should prepare clear statements countering misconceptions likely to surface during or after the meeting.
Finally, CDC leadership must restore scientific credibility by ensuring website content reflects peer-reviewed evidence, not political pressure or manufactured ambiguity.
Public health institutions now face a choice: reinforce trust through evidence-based practice or erode it by elevating speculation over science. The path forward is clear: follow evidence, uphold process, communicate clearly, and keep the mission focused on protecting the health of the American people.
At the upcoming ACIP meeting, the committee must resist raising hypothetical risks not grounded in rigorous science, while burying real, lifesaving benefits. The country deserves better — and our public health system depends on it.
Demetre Daskalakis, M.D., M.P.H., is the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and is principal at Dr Demetre Consulting. Daniel Jernigan, M.D., M.P.H., is the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and is principal at Bannerstone. Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H., is the former CDC chief medical officer and principal at DH Leadership and Strategy Solutions.