Six former CDC vaccine advisory committee chairs warn: U.S. risks losing access to life-saving immunizations

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By Grace Lee, Nancy Bennett, Jonathan Temte, Carol Baker, Myron Levin, and José Romero

June 20, 2025

The authors are all past chairs of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

As former chairs of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), we are deeply alarmed by the growing politicization of vaccines — a public health innovation that has saved 154 million lives globally. While politicization of science is not new, the escalating distrust in science across the political spectrum, and its intrusion into the vaccine ecosystem, now threatens the very infrastructure that has long protected Americans from infectious diseases.