Offering an Alternative to Government Agencies, Vaccine Integrity Project Informs on Vaccinating Against Respiratory Viruses

A recently published review¹ of evidence for vaccines against COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza in the 2025-2026 season was conducted independently of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) through the Vaccine Integrity Project, which was just launched in April 2025 from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

A news release announcing the project described it as "dedicated to safeguarding vaccine use in the US" and indicated its intent to "engage professionals across the US immunization landscape to gather feedback on how nongovernmental entities may be able to help protect vaccine policy, information, and utilization across the US."²

More than 2 dozen experts were involved in the review, including 10 members of CIDRAP. Kevin Griffis, spokesperson for the project, noted that Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, former director of the CDC, had helped to assemble and organize the review team.

Griffis resigned from the CDC as director of the office of communications in March. He left for his belief that "public health policy must always be guided by facts and not fantasy."³

Griffis commented to Contagion that the review, which had culled through 511 studies published since the most recent ACIP Evidence to Recommendation reviews, "did not find data to support changes to previous ACIP COVID-19 immunization guidelines."

"The Vaccine Integrity Project's goal was to perform a comprehensive review of the most recent published influenza, COVID-19, and RSV immunization data and to share that information with medical societies that were writing immunization guidelines and with the American public," Griffis said.

He noted that the project had provided findings during the course of the review to the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), American Academy of Family Physicians, and American College of Physicians to inform their recommendations and pointed out that IDSA in particular had utilized and credited the project's review in formulating recommendations for vaccine use in immunocompromised persons.

"We have been in communication with the regional public health initiatives [eg, West Coast Health Alliance and the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, which formed to synthesize recommendations in response to changes at HHS and the ACIP] and have updated them on the project's works," Griffis added.

The lead author of the review, Jake Scott, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases & Geographic Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, explained to Contagion that although the review conveyed evidence of vaccine safety and effectiveness, it did not offer recommendations.

"We intentionally limited our scope to the data rather than policy recommendations or coverage decisions," Scott said. "The evidence we synthesized supports the continued safety and effectiveness of these vaccines in the populations studied, but translating that evidence into specific recommendations involves considerations beyond our review's scope.

"Our goal was to provide clinicians and health professionals with an independent, rigorous synthesis of recent vaccine data during a time of transition in advisory processes," Scott recounted. "We hope this evidence base helps inform clinical decision-making as we approach the respiratory virus season."

References

1. Scott J, Abers MS, Marwah HK, et al. Updated evidence for COVID-19, RSV, and influenza vaccines for 2025-2026. N Engl J Med. Published online October 29, 2025. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa2514268

2. CIDRAP launches Vaccine Integrity Project. News release. University of Minnesota. April 24, 2025. https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/cidrap-launches-vaccine-integrity-project

3. Griffis K. Why I left my job leading public health messaging for the CDC. Washington Post. March 25, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/25/rfk-hhs-cdc-public-health-misinformation-spread/