July 2, 2025

President’s Letter from Bill Steinbach – Reflections on ACIP Meeting

Last week the new, inexpert Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices hosted its first meeting. Prior to that debacle, the American Academy of Pediatrics and PIDS aligned in withholding our formal participation for this scientific farce of a meeting. Resistance can take many forms, and arguments can be made for sticking around to be the adults in the room, but we made the calculated decision that in this case that was going to be futile and we would have the most impact with a united front.

To start, though, I want to express my gratitude for the CDC staff and subject matter experts whose skillful presentation of data-heavy content and deft handling of questions reflected the care for science and professionalism we should expect from an ACIP meeting. As for the seven hand-picked members of the committee, they were largely who we thought they were: a collection of contrarians, most of them lacking in the specialized training of infectious diseases, pediatrics, or immunology necessary for the committee’s work and that the 17 dismissed ACIP members possessed.

As noted in our statement regarding the meeting, this committee was designed to undermine public trust in vaccines and the science that informs our care. The two-day meeting was a deluge of falsehoods, mistruths, long debunked conspiracies, and a general lack of understanding. It was a choose-your-own-adventure of outrage that included – but by no means not limited to – the need for hepatitis B vaccination at birth, the degree of COVID-19 burden in infants or if its vaccine makes people more susceptible to hospitalization, describing 250 pediatric deaths due to influenza as “modest,” and the announcement of a working group to review the childhood vaccine schedule. Unfortunately, that list doesn’t include the surprise addition of a presentation by a noted vaccine-denier on thimerosal that included nonexistent studies which were removed following news media reporting (and suggests the presentation was created using AI).

There was plenty more in the meeting. Recordings of both days are available on the CDC’s YouTube channel. Or were. They have already hastily removed a page from the CDC website on the safety review of thimerosal that contradicted the presentation and subsequent committee vote, so this may not exactly be the transparent, trust-engendering group we were promised.

The conduct of this meeting suggests we have a lot of work ahead of us as pediatric infectious diseases professionals, as scientists, and as educators. It is on all of us to continue promoting good science, safe and effective vaccinations, and the health and well-being of children. One complexity is the difficulty in conveying to the general public, who will be the most affected by bad science, the dangers of such a nuanced group like the ACIP when Rome is burning with so many other issues affecting the country, world, and people’s daily lives. The sheer volume is our biggest enemy, and it is our job to make sure parents and patients understand the importance of evidence-based pediatric infectious diseases in something so fundamental to public health as vaccines.

Your Society will continue working with our partners like AAP to ensure this is happening at an organizational level, as well. It may be tough, daunting work, but it is work worth doing.

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