The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on April 6 loosened the required expertise for members of an important vaccine advisory panel, after a federal judge blocked changes to the panel made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The health secretary, who selects members for the panel—called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—must appoint members with the necessary expertise, officials said in a notice regarding the committee’s charter. They wrote that the secretary will consider candidates representing a “balance of specialty areas,” including biostatistics, toxicology, immunology, pediatrics, nursing, and “consumer issues.”
At least some members should have experience with state or local health departments, academia, or public health, according to the update, and the health secretary should also take steps to ensure that members represent states across different parts of the country.
Prior to that update, the charter for the panel had said that members “shall be selected from authorities who are knowledgeable in the fields of immunization practices and public health, have expertise in the use of vaccines and other immunobiologic agents in clinical practice or preventive medicine, have expertise with clinical or laboratory vaccine research, or have expertise in assessment of vaccine efficacy and safety.”
The only exception was for at least one person who had knowledge regarding “consumer perspectives and/or social and community aspects of immunization programs.”
ACIP provides advice to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which publishes vaccine schedules that are widely adopted across the country.
ACIP’s charter is typically renewed every two years. The previous charter expired on April 1.
Certain changes that have been adopted were recently proposed by the Informed Consent Action Network through Aaron Siri, a lawyer who previously represented Kennedy.
The change in membership criteria comes after a judge in March ruled that many members appointed by Kennedy in 2025 did not meet the qualification requirements.
“In light of the evidence before the Court that many of the new members lack relevant experience, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs have demonstrated a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits of their fairly balanced claim,” the judge said in staying the appointments. He also stayed updates to vaccine recommendations, some of which were enacted based on advice from the committee.
The ruling also led to the cancellation of an ACIP meeting scheduled for later that month to discuss injuries from COVID-19 vaccines, among other matters.
The government has not yet appealed the decision, as officials consider the best path to take.
Members appointed by Kennedy whom Murphy said were not qualified include Catherine Stein, an epidemiologist and professor at Case Western Reserve University; Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist; and Dr. Robert Malone, who helped invent the technology used in some COVID-19 vaccines.
The Informed Consent Action Network had said that the members did not have the requisite experience and that an update to the charter would make that clear.
The charter update also broadened ACIP’s mission.
The charter had stated that ACIP shall provide advice to the CDC’s director “regarding use of vaccines and related agents for effective control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the civilian population of the United States.”
It now says that the panel shall provide advice “regarding use of vaccines and related agents for effective control of vaccine-preventable diseases and/or decrease symptomatology in the civilian population of the United States, including identifying areas where additional data or evaluation would be useful to inform future recommendations.”
Malone, who has said he will no longer serve on the panel regardless of whether an appeal is filed, wrote on his blog that the added language “shifts ACIP’s mandate from a disease-control frame to one that also encompasses symptom mitigation” and “could affect how ACIP evaluates vaccines for diseases where sterilizing immunity is not achievable.”