The Trump administration is delaying an upcoming public meeting of an independent panel of experts who make recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines.
The meeting was slated to be the first gathering of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices under Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department includes the CDC.
Doctors and public health leaders are closely watching the fate of the vaccine committee, which consists of up to 19 voting members, under Secretary Kennedy because it's instrumental to CDC's vaccine policymaking.
The committee makes recommendations for the agency's vaccine schedule for children and adults. The panel also helps determine which vaccines get covered by health insurance and the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides vaccines free to eligible children.
NPR contacted several committee members for their reaction to the postponement, but did not hear back immediately
The meeting had been scheduled to run Feb. 26-28, but will now be "postponed," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon confirmed to NPR in an email on Thursday, citing the need to "accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting."
A written public comment period for the meeting was set to open up on Feb. 3 and run through Feb. 17, according to the meeting notice in the Federal Register. During the meeting, members of the public also have an opportunity to speak.
A current CDC employee with direct knowledge told NPR that CDC staff had been asking HHS to open up public comment since Feb. 3, but had not been given permission to do so. The person requested anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly. The agenda for the late February meeting had included discussions and votes related to vaccines for HPV, RSV, influenza and Lyme disease, among other topics.
"I am very concerned that the cancellation of the upcoming meeting is part of a move to hobble the ACIP through administrative means," said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah. "I think the excuse given is disingenuous. Ostensibly, it was because there was not enough time for public comments, but HHS chose not to open the comment period."
The committee's workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present "at an upcoming meeting," HHS' Nixon said.
It's not clear when the meeting will be held. The website for the vaccine committee says it's "Postponed, Date TBA."
The delay comes on the heels of a new executive order from President Trump calling for the elimination of some federal advisory committees and for a list to be drawn up in the next 30 days of other committees that "should be terminated on grounds that they are unnecessary."
Some are already voicing concern about the cancelled meeting.
On Thursday, a nonprofit called Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease circulated a letter, signed by a handful of doctors and organizations, calling for the CDC's acting director and Secretary Kennedy to reschedule the meeting and hold public comment.
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