US CDC cancels February vaccine adviser meeting, no new one set yet

By Michael Erman and Julie Steenhuysen

Feb 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for later this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not be held, with no new dates announced, according to a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stepped up efforts to rewrite national vaccination policy, including dropping broad recommendations for six childhood shots including COVID and hepatitis B, deepening federal support for states' vaccine exemptions, and cutting funding for mRNA-based vaccine research.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which makes recommendations for who should get which vaccines, had been scheduled to meet from February 25-27, according to the CDC's website. But no Federal Register notice had been made to announce the meeting, nor had the CDC posted an agenda.

"We will not hold the ACIP meeting later this month. Further information will be shared as available," HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said.

The committee's recommendations typically have affected U.S. health insurance coverage, state policies on vaccines needed for schools and how physicians advise parents and patients. The panel faced multiple revamps last year, after Kennedy fired all its 17 members in June.

One source familiar with the matter said the CDC is considering rescheduling the meeting for March. The committee generally meets at least three times a year.

When the committee last met in December, it voted to remove the recommendation that all newborns in the U.S. receive a hepatitis B vaccine.

The CDC followed that vote in January with its own broad changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, removing the recommendation for rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease and hepatitis A. The ACIP did not vote on these changes.

Several state and medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics have made their own set of vaccine recommendations as an alternative to the CDC's.

Leadership at the CDC is shifting. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will step in as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Trump administration official said on Wednesday, replacing current acting director Jim O'Neill.

Major U.S. medical groups have asked a federal judge to prevent the panel from holding the meeting. The groups are suing to challenge policies adopted under Kennedy that they say will lower vaccination rates.

They argue the ACIP is dominated by people aligned with Kennedy's anti-vaccine views, in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act's mandates that it be fairly balanced and free of inappropriate influence.