Kennedy delays first vaccine expert meeting under his watch

Less than a week into the tenure of Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, there are yet more signals that US immunisation programmes are going to be shaken up.

The latest development is the decision to postpone the next meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) – due to be held from 26th to 28th February – in order to "accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting," according to an HHS spokesperson.

The postponement was first reported by Stat News, while a Politico report has suggested that Kennedy is planning to remove members of external advisory committees who he sees as having "conflicts of interest" and replace them with "other stakeholders."

The postponement comes after Kennedy was put in charge of a new commission to investigate "threats" to children's health in the US – which will look at a range of factors, including medication and vaccines – and pledged to investigate the role vaccines may play alongside other "taboo" or "insufficiently scrutinised" topics like prescribing of psychiatric drugs in his first speech as HHS Secretary.

At two Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy played down his well-publicised questioning of the safety of childhood vaccines – including debunked claims that they can cause autism – but refused to disavow his earlier stance, saying his actions as HHS Secretary would be led by "data" and "unbiased science".

The postponement will likely create conflict with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who had polio as a child and is a staunch supporter of vaccines, who backed Kennedy's nomination only after receiving a string of assurances, including that the CDC and ACIP would be maintained "without change."

News of the postponement has already prompted an open letter addressed to Kennedy, Cassidy, and acting CDC director Susan Monarez urging the preservation of the agenda of the next ACIP meeting, saying it included "critical, vaccine-related decisions, including discussion linked to deadly illnesses like meningococcal disease."

The delay will have a bearing on GSK and Pfizer, as the ACIP's deliberations would guide the use of their recently approved pentavalent (MenABCWY) meningococcal vaccines, respectively Penmenvy and Penbraya.

The open letter – organised by the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease and signed by a string of patient advocacy and scientific organisations – alludes to the "many commitments delivered during Robert F Kennedy Jr's confirmation process" and notes that a decision to postpone an ACIP meeting would typically require a comment period.

It also calls for the restoration of a portal for public comment that has been taken offline by the Trump administration.

"Rescheduling this critical meeting and reconciling the absent portal for public remarks would represent a meaningful early follow-through from the Trump administration and its new HHS Secretary to ensure Americans receive the information needed to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable illnesses, confirming immunisation's importance in the mission to make America healthier," the letter concludes.