A High-Stakes Meeting Under New Leadership

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets Thursday and Friday to review major vaccine policies, including the hepatitis B birth dose and the broader childhood vaccine schedule. This is ACIP’s third meeting since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 previous members and replaced them with his own appointees, several of whom have expressed skepticism toward established vaccine guidance.

Pediatric cardiologist and former Air Force flight surgeon Dr. Kirk Milhoan will chair the meeting, as former chair Martin Kulldorff has taken a permanent role within HHS.

What’s on the Agenda

A draft agenda shows that ACIP will spend the first day discussing the hepatitis B vaccine, including a scheduled vote that experts believe will address whether newborns should continue receiving the shot within 24 hours of birth. The second day will focus on the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, adjuvants, and vaccine risk monitoring.

Public health leaders say nearly every topic raised is cause for alarm, given the current panel’s departure from long-standing scientific consensus.

Debate Over the Hepatitis B Birth Dose

The CDC currently recommends that all newborns receive the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within the first day of life—a practice credited with virtually eliminating infant hepatitis B infections in the U.S.

However, signals from the new ACIP suggest the committee may consider weakening or reversing the universal birth-dose recommendation. Earlier this year, Kulldorff questioned whether vaccinating all newborns was “wise,” and Kennedy has repeatedly made false claims linking the hepatitis B shot to autism.

Former CDC official Dr. Fiona Havers warned that shifting to a “screen the mother only” approach, used prior to the universal policy, would lead to more infants and children contracting hepatitis B. She emphasized that babies can be infected not only by their mothers but also by caregivers or community members who may not know they carry the virus.

According to Havers, any infections caused by delayed or missed vaccination would be “avoidable tragedies,” potentially leading to chronic disease, liver failure, or liver cancer later in life.

Reviewing the Childhood Immunization Schedule

The second day of the meeting will examine the national vaccine schedule for children and adolescents. Two ACIP work groups formed this year are evaluating the cumulative effects of vaccines and reviewing older immunizations that have not been reassessed in more than seven years.

Kennedy has publicly claimed that children receive “92 doses” of vaccines today, compared with three during his childhood. Pediatric experts say the real number is closer to 30 doses, reflecting decades of scientific progress and the addition of vaccines for once-devastating illnesses.

Former CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser said he has not heard concerns from pediatricians or vaccine experts about the safety of the schedule. He warned that approaching the review with an assumption that the schedule is unsafe “really, really worries me.”

Adjuvants and Misinformation

ACIP will also discuss vaccine adjuvants and contaminants. Kennedy has previously called aluminum adjuvants “neurotoxins,” despite decades of research showing they safely boost immune responses. The CDC notes that adjuvants have been used safely in vaccines for more than 70 years.

A Pivotal Moment for U.S. Vaccine Policy

Since being restructured, ACIP has already recommended against thimerosal-containing flu vaccines and narrowed guidance for the MMRV combination shot—moves that experts say are not supported by evidence and may weaken public confidence.

As the committee weighs further changes, public health officials fear the consequences could ripple far beyond the meeting room, reshaping long-established protections against preventable diseases.

For more on this story, stay tuned to Que Onda Magazine.