The Trump administration is officially seeking new members for the nation’s influential vaccine advisory panel, indicating a renewed effort to remake the group in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s image.
In a notice posted to the Federal Register on Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services said it is looking for nominations for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, through Dec. 31. The notice calls for members that “collectively represent a balanced range of scientific, clinical, and public health expertise relevant to the Committee’s mission, including person(s) knowledgeable about consumer perspectives and/or social and community aspects of immunization programs.”
The administration used broader language than previous notices for ACIP nominations have used — subtle changes that some former members say could make it easier for the administration to nominate vaccine skeptics.
Unlike the 2024 call for nominations, the administration’s notice does not include language about vaccine-specific experience. Previous postings have described ACIP members as “experts in fields associated with immunization practices and public health,” followed by a list of vaccine-related areas of expertise.
Trending
“You can have people with significant expertise who meet these criteria who are skeptical about vaccines, and their skepticism would not be a disqualifying factor,” said Dr. Jamie Loehr, a family physician, who served on ACIP from 2021 until he was fired from the committee in 2025.
Kennedy fired all 17 members of ACIP in June 2025 and attempted to install new members, including many with a history of vaccine skepticism. The new committee tried to cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11.
The actions spurred a lawsuit from the American Public Health Association and medical associations, which claimed that Kennedy did not follow proper procedure in soliciting new nominees. ACIP has not met for nearly a year due to this litigation.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the changes in solicitation language.
While former members are optimistic about ACIP’s return, especially in the midst of the largest measles outbreak in 35 years, some saw the changes in solicitation language as unusual.
“I think this is very concerning,” said Dr. Edwin Asturias, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist and ACIP member from 2024 to 2025. “You wouldn’t want someone without heart expertise making recommendations about heart disease. So why would we accept less clarity about the expertise of the committee making national vaccine recommendations?”
The committee has typically included at least one consumer advocate, according to former ACIP members who spoke to The Washington Sun. However, solicitations for ACIP usually prioritize other areas above consumer advocacy.
Other changes in language also indicate the administration is taking a broader approach. The solicitation says the administration would consider non-U.S. citizens on a case-by-case basis. Older postings have required nominees to be U.S. citizens.
In addition, the 2026 notice leaves out specific language from past notices stating that vaccines recommended by ACIP will be covered under the Affordable Care Act, though coverage for children’s vaccines are protected by law.
Kennedy’s past calls for greater research into potential adverse effects of vaccines, as well as the panel’s attempts to loosen recommendations for the children’s vaccine schedule, has made public health experts and former ACIP members nervous about any possible changes to ACIP.
“The administration has been eager to advance unproven theories that undermine proven vaccine safety with untruths and innuendo,” Dr. Noel Brewer, a vaccine and medical researcher at the University of North Carolina, who was on ACIP from 2024 to 2025, said of language in the notice that asked for nominees interested in “identifying areas where additional data or evaluation would inform future recommendations.”
Still, they hope the committee will continue to recruit the expertise required for vaccine recommendations.
“We don’t need a fair balance between well-established evidence and unsupported claims, right?” Asturias said. “So we would like a committee that is laser-focused on making the right decisions for those recommendations to be the best for the American public.”
Author
