PIDS Fears of Politicized ACIP Materialized

“The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is intended to provide “expert advice” on federal immunization policy. That is how the committee operated prior to the extraordinary firings earlier this month of the 17 vetted, respected, and knowledgeable clinicians, researchers, immunologists and public health leaders then on ACIP. The new and hastily appointed seven-member committee that replaced those experts conducted its first meeting, and the fears shared by the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) and many in the scientific community of a politicized ACIP materialized over the past two days.

“In a meeting designed to undermine public trust in the safety and efficacy of many vaccines, data were misrepresented, unproven and disproven statements were presented as facts, and anti-vaccine framing dominated discussions of COVID-19, influenza, RSV, hepatitis B, MMRV and the childhood vaccine schedule. Absent the regular evidence-based review of the science relating to these vaccines, led and conducted by experts in the field, Americans will lose faith in ACIP’s legitimacy. The most severe resulting consequences of undermined public trust in vaccines will disproportionately fall on those who are most vulnerable to preventable diseases.

“PIDS remains steadfast in our belief in the safety and efficacy of vaccines in protecting children, the necessity of the childhood vaccine schedule and the Vaccines for Children Program to ensure no child is forced to suffer from a preventable disease. PIDS will continue to work with partners to preserve vaccine recommendations based on evidence, not politics.”