Vaccine panel that limited covid shot scrutinized after chaotic meetings

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/09/20/acip-vaccine-cdc-criticism-rfk/

The chair of a new panel of federal immunization advisers selected by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday that the group’s “enormous depth and knowledge about vaccines, about science” should be obvious to anyone listening to them work.

But medical associations and scientific experts who watched the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meetings Thursday and Friday panned the panel’s performance as the group reversed recommendations for coronavirus and a combined measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox vaccine.

They said the members were unprepared, misunderstood or ignored key data and highlighted flawed or inconclusive research often trumpeted by vaccine critics.

Critics argued the new panelists lack the expertise for the job and risk undoing measures that have long curbed preventable diseases.

During two days of meetings at a CDC campus in Georgia, committee members appeared at times uncertain about the issues before them or the powers of the panel, prompting staff to explain steps in evaluating data and setting vaccine recommendations.