Top medical organizations that have historically helped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) advisors establish vaccine recommendations have been pushed out of key vaccine work groups.
The American Medical Association (AMA), along with seven other medical groups, said they were notified via e-mail late Thursday by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that liaison organizations will be excluded from the process of reviewing scientific evidence and informing vaccine recommendations.
The ACIP helps guide the CDC on how best to implement approved vaccines. There are 30 approved medical liaison organizations to the ACIP that bring related immunization expertise. Representatives of these organizations typically attend ACIP meetings.
The ACIP has 11 work groups that review relevant published and unpublished data and develop recommendation options for presentation to the committee, according to the organization's website. The work groups often include committee members and experts from medical and scientific organizations.
In response to a request for comment on the decision, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said, "Under the old ACIP, outside pressure to align with vaccine orthodoxy limited asking the hard questions. The old ACIP members were plagued by conflicts of interest, influence, and bias. We are fulfilling our promise to the American people to never again allow those conflicts to taint vaccine recommendations."
The HHS spokesperson also said experts "will continue to be included based on relevant experience and expertise, not because of what organization they are with."
The Associated Press reported that one email sent by the ACIP said the medical organizations are “special interest groups and therefore are expected to have a ‘bias’ based on their constituency and/or population that they represent.”
The email also said the "ACIP charter will continue to include approved liaison organizations. Representatives will be permitted to continue to participate in the meetings that are open to the public," MedPage Today reported.
“We are deeply disappointed and alarmed that our organizations are being characterized as ‘biased’ and therefore barred from reviewing scientific data and informing the development of vaccine recommendations that have long helped ensure our nation’s vaccine program is safe, effective, and free from bias," wrote the AMA, along with the seven other medical associations, in a statement.
"We represent physicians who care for patients throughout their lifespan, who share a common goal and responsibility to keep patients healthy and protect public health. We bring to the table real-world clinical experience on how vaccine recommendations are implemented in practice," the statement said.
The organizations disinvited from the work groups, and who co-signed the statement, comprise the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Geriatrics Society, the AMA, the American Osteopathic Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the National Medical Association.
The medical organizations said removing their "deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation’s health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccines."
“For decades, liaisons from our organizations have reviewed published and unpublished data and literature related to vaccine efficacy, effectiveness, and safety and provided unbiased input for ACIP’s consideration," the organizations said. "We strongly urge the Administration to reconsider excluding our organizations from participating in the ACIP vaccine review process so we can continue to feel confident in its vaccine recommendations for our patients.”
In a social media post on X, Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a newly appointed member of the ACIP, said the work groups "will engage experts from even broader set of disciplines! WGs membership will be based on merit & expertise - not membership in organizations proven to have COIs and radical & narrow view of public health!"
HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has revamped the ACIP, dismissing all 17 members of the committee and replacing them with a group of eight advisors, including one who has already stepped down and others who have expressed their anti-vaccine views.
Following RFK Jr.'s shake-up of the ACIP, major medical organizations sounded the alarm, saying the advisors' decisions undermine established science and aim to sow distrust in immunizations. Medical groups say the newly appointed CDC vaccine advisory committee has deviated away from the longstanding evidence-based process that has historically guided ACIP deliberations. That process includes input from CDC experts, working groups and trusted scientific and medical organizations.
At the most recent ACIP meeting in late June, several groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, opted not to attend the meeting, MedPage Today reported.
In May, the HHS pulled COVID-19 vaccines from the list of immunizations recommended by the CDC for pregnant women and "healthy" children.
Several healthcare provider organizations and a pregnant physician have sued HHS head RFK Jr. and other federal officials over the removal of COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, which they describe as emblematic of “the Secretary’s assault on science, public health and evidence-based medicine.”