What the AAFP is doing to oppose dangerous ACIP changes

Instead, the secretary should work with the CDC toward solving a problem about which he and the Academy agree: an erosion in public trust of vaccines.

ACIP, the expert panel responsible for making science-based vaccine recommendations for the nation, has for generations been a lifesaving success, benefitting Americans tremendously. Under the panel’s aegis, vaccines in this country throughout the past six decades eradicated polio, measles and mumps while preventing millions of other infections. From 1994 through 2023 alone, the routine vaccination of 117 million children likely prevented around 508 million lifetime cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations and 1.1 million deaths.

Championing immunization integrity

Because a broken ACIP places public health at risk, the Academy is taking action. In addition to our June 12 letter to Kennedy, the AAFP in recent days has

• led a resolution adopted at the AMA House of Delegates, with support from more than 30 medical groups, calling for an end to political interference in vaccine policy;
• urged payers to ensure that COVID vaccines remain available and affordable for pregnant patients;
• reaffirmed the critical role of vaccines in protecting vulnerable populations, especially in light of proposed changes to the immunization schedule;
• endorsed the Family Vaccine Protection Act (H.R. 3701), which would codify and protect ACIP and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program;
• joined other physician groups in urging HHS to return to a transparent, science-based vaccine recommendation process;
• in coalition with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Physicians, urged the leaders of key congressional committees to investigate this action and protect patients’ access to crucial immunizations; and
• added this issue to our agenda for next week’s Family Medicine Advocacy Summit, where hundreds of Academy members will meet with congressional members and staff in person to advocate for the AAFP’s top policy priorities.

Defending family physicians

Our letter to Kennedy counters, with data, points the secretary made in his Wall Street Journal editorial announcing the ACIP dismantlement and is worth reading in full, but I want to highlight something to which we particularly objected. Kennedy baselessly impugns family physicians who have served as ACIP members or advisers by charging that ACIP panelists adhere to “a narrow pro-industry orthodoxy” and have conflicts of interest. However, he cites no evidence that any member of ACIP at any time has benefited financially from that body’s decisions.

We told the secretary in our letter that his characterization applies to neither the Academy’s just-dismissed representative on ACIP nor to any family physicians who have served in ACIP’s important workgroups over the AAFP’s long history of collaborating with the committee.

“These physicians are practicing in their communities and on the front line of patient care,” we said. “We regret that you have chosen to speak of them and their intentions in such a manner. This approach is not accurate, and it creates a true threat to public health when expressed by the highest-ranking health official in the federal government.”

AAFP member Jamie Loehr, MD, was among the dismissed ACIP committee experts, all of whom published a joint opinion column June 16 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses,” the group wrote.

What’s next

The Academy will keep advocating for vaccine infrastructure and immunization schedules constructed by highly trained scientists, clinicians and public health experts who have deep experience in vaccine science, epidemiology and regulatory affairs. That focus will include pushing to pass the Family Vaccine Protection Act, mentioned above. We will work to ensure that your voices are heard in this advocacy—and that family physicians continue to be part of vaccine development.