Robert H. Hopkins Jr, MD, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, offers commentary about what changing the vaccine committee’s charter means from a functional standpoint and how it affects public health by moving away from vaccines as a prevention strategy.
This is part of a short series with leaders of medical professional organizations to gain insights about the revised Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) charter as well as commentary about the federal government’s suppression of COVID-19 vaccine data.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a significantly revised ACIP charter. In effect, this action changes how the committee operates and provides greater power to the current administration.
In opposition to this,
In part, the statement read: “The 130+ undersigned medical, nursing, public health, and patient advocacy groups express our deep concern about the revised charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) published on April 9. The new charter substantively changes the focus of the committee and its membership structure, which could undermine confidence in vaccines and ultimately affect access to immunizations.
ACIP was established to provide evidence-based guidance on the use of immunizations to prevent diseases, but the revised charter paves the way for an unqualified committee to promote misleading narratives about vaccine safety. For decades, the committee held transparent discussions about vaccines based on patterns of disease, clinical trial and real-world data on efficacy and safety, and cost and implementation considerations. The new charter downplays the value of immunizations for both communities and individuals.”1
To read the entire statement, interested parties can go
The NFID serves as a liaison during the ACIP meetings, so it understands intimately how the committee operates. Robert H. Hopkins Jr, MD, medical director of the NFID, says if the charter were to change, it would completely overhaul what it has done traditionally.
“This new charter changes the focus of the committee from one that evaluates new vaccines, reviews vaccines as preventable disease epidemiology, [and] talks about disease and safe implementation of vaccines to protect the American public…to what seems to be one focused on minimizing vaccine confidence and the public's perception of value,” Hopkins said. “In addition, it adds liaison representatives from several organizations that have a long track record of sharing misinformation…. The traditional role of liaisons has been to offer clinical and scientific expertise in real-world settings, not to undermine confidence.”
July 2025: The AAP, ACP, and other medical professional organizations file a lawsuit against Kennedy.
March 2026: A federal judge strikes down the current administration's vaccine policies.
April 2026: The CDC significantly revises the ACIP charter. More than 130 organizations take part in releasing a statement condemning the revised charter.
From a philosophical standpoint, the ACIP has operated in a nonpolitical, nonideological way. Hopkins says this shift away from how vaccines prevent diseases to looking at them only from a safety standpoint is a marked departure that leaves short the committee’s work.
“If you read this new proposed charter, there is nothing in there about disease epidemiology, there's nothing in there about effectiveness of vaccines, there's nothing in there about vaccine prevention. It's all focused on safety or lack thereof and on changes in the representation of the liaisons,” Hopkins said. “If you change the focus from looking at the broad picture of the diseases that we can prevent with vaccines and you don't talk about value of vaccines, you're missing at least half of the puzzle.”
In the next episode of the series, Hopkins discusses what we know about COVID-19 vaccines in 2026.
