WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken a bold step to restore public trust by reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the CDC on vaccine safety, efficacy, and need. Under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the agency has removed all 17 ACIP members and will replace them with new appointees.
“[We] are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” Secretary Kennedy said. “The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies.”
Following President Trump’s Restoring Gold Standard Science executive order, the new ACIP members will ensure government decisions are based on reliable, impartial scientific evidence.
The Biden administration appointed the 17 outgoing ACIP members, with 13 selected in 2024. These appointments would have limited the current administration’s ability to reshape the committee until 2028. The previous administration aimed to lock in public health policies and constrain changes to vaccine science oversight.
“A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Kennedy concluded. “ACIP’s new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas. The entire world once looked to American health regulators for guidance, inspiration, scientific impartiality, and unimpeachable integrity. Public trust has eroded. Only through radical transparency and gold standard science, will we earn it back.”
The next ACIP meeting will take place June 25-27 at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
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