Former ACIP members make contradictory statements following judge essentially invalidating panel and recent decisions
Does the US have a vaccine advisory committee? The answer became surprisingly murky on Thursday, as former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and health officials made contradictory statements following a federal judge essentially invalidating the committee and their recent decisions on Monday.
According to a former member of the committee who asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive matters, ACIP will continue to exist without the 13 members who were stayed by Judge Brian Murphy on Monday – and officials plan to start the process over again with new members.
The judge found that the members had not gone through the necessary process to join the committee, and he put on hold their membership and all decisions the committee made in the past year. The judge also put on hold an unprecedented move in January by US health officials to make major changes to the routine childhood immunization schedule. That means all 17 vaccines are once again fully recommended, including the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.
But confusion about the future of the committee still abounds, even among its former members.
