ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a new charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on its website on June 25, 2026. This action follows a federal judge's preliminary ruling that found most members of the new ACIP lacked the necessary qualifications for their duties.

The new ACIP charter is dated May 14, 2026. It stipulates that the panel should "represent a balanced range of scientific, clinical, and public health expertise relevant to the Committee's mission." Previous versions of the ACIP charter emphasized the importance of vaccine research-relevant experience in member selection.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the previous members of the ACIP in June 2025. He also signed an earlier version of the ACIP charter in March 2026, which was later deemed invalid. The Administration has appealed the federal court ruling regarding the ACIP.

Lawyer Richard Hughes stated, "The March charter was an overt attempt to shift ACIP's focus to match Kennedy's vaccine agenda — vaccine injury, cumulative exposure, vaccine components, mRNA platforms, and safety gaps — while adding non-traditional liaison groups and moving control closer to CDC leadership." Sara Rosenbaum, a professor emerita of health law and policy at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, remarked, "When the court tells you that many of your appointments fail to meet the charter criteria and therefore the results of their deliberations must be set aside, change the charter." Rosenbaum added, "The dramatic changes in the ACIP charter underscore the Secretary's overarching goal — to superimpose on the science itself his deep prejudice against one of the truly surpassing achievements in child health." She further stated, "He has done this by taking one of the nation's most respected scientific advisory bodies, altered its mission to somehow support his preferred aim of somehow proving that vaccines are dangerous, altered the qualifications of its advisors, and stacked its operations with staff who share his views." Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said, "RFK Jr. is trying to retrofit the charter to make it so that the people that he brought in … qualify." Offit also said, "So therefore, he's trying to make it so that we don't have an expertise that can best advise us." Hughes commented, "Here, they are simply trying to minimize what they are doing on paper to avoid the legal consequences of their manipulation of the committee." The government and lawyers representing the American Academy of Pediatrics filed a status report to the judge presiding over the ACIP case on June 24, 2026.

The ACIP previously met three times a year, in February, June, and October. The committee last met in Atlanta in December 2025 and has not convened in the 2026 calendar year.

Why It Matters

The revised charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the related legal challenges highlight ongoing scrutiny regarding the committee's composition and mission. This situation follows a federal judge's finding that recently appointed members lacked sufficient qualifications and a previous attempt by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to revise the charter earlier in the year. The committee's role involves providing recommendations that influence vaccine access and insurance coverage, and its inactivity in 2026 marks a departure from its previous meeting schedule.