As first shared with The Hill, Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper (Colo.), Angela Alsobrooks (Md.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.) and Ed Markey (Mass.) will be introducing the Family Vaccine Protection Act, which would codify the structures and practices of ACIP’s vaccine recommendations.
This legislation comes just days before the panel’s scheduled meeting on Thursday, during which members are set to vote on changes to newborn hepatitis B vaccinations and to examine the entire childhood vaccine schedule.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. purged the panel over the summer and replaced the members with handpicked experts who have largely been critical of vaccination practices.
Ever since, ACIP’s process for examining vaccines and making recommendations has been widely criticized by public health leaders and former CDC officials for cherry-picking data to support pre-established political goals and for ignoring the preponderance of evidence supporting the use of vaccines.
In addition, outside experts from medical and public health groups have been barred from participating in the subcommittee “working groups” that examine the evidence on vaccines that the ACIP is studying.
ACIP’s recommendations inform which vaccines are covered by insurers and government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Vaccines for Children, which provides free vaccines to more than half of the children in the U.S.
The Democrats’ bill would set a timeline for new vaccine recommendations from ACIP; require both the CDC director and the HHS Secretary to adopt these recommendations if supported by a majority of scientific evidence; and codify ACIP’s membership selection process, meeting frequency, and expertise requirements.
“Vaccine decisions should be grounded in facts – not conspiracy theories,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “This administration’s senseless attacks on science erodes Americans’ trust in public health and undermines families’ access to safe vaccines. Our bill protects science and restores Americans’ confidence that vaccine recommendations are rooted in data, not politics.”
The panelists are expected to vote Thursday to scrap the recommendation to give all babies a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. The vote was originally brought up for consideration in September but was ultimately delayed amid confusion and disagreement among panelists.
