A federal vaccine advisory committee is preparing to re-evaluate the childhood vaccine panel to childhood immunization, a move that has triggered alarm over concerns about potential changes to established vaccine recommendations.

On Wednesday (June 25), the newly appointed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met for the first time under its new chair, Martin Kulldorff.

Kulldorff announced the creation of two new work groups: one to scrutinize the cumulative effects of all recommended vaccines in children and adolescents, and another to review vaccines that have not been evaluated in more than seven years.

“The number of vaccines that our children and adolescents receive today exceeds what children in most other developed nations receive and what most of us in this room received when we were children,” Kulldorff said during the meeting.

vaccine panel to childhood immunization

He added: “In addition to studying and evaluating individual vaccines, it is important to evaluate the cumulative effect of the recommended vaccine schedule. This includes interaction effects between different vaccines, the total number of vaccines, cumulative amount of vaccine ingredients, and relative timing.”

Hepatitis B and MMR vaccines under review

Kulldorff explained that among the topics the committee could consider is whether hepatitis B shots should continue to be administered to newborns before hospital discharge.

The group may also weigh the possibility of recommending separate measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and varicella vaccines instead of the combined MMRV shot, and look at adjusting the timing of MMR doses to address certain religious objections.

“This was supposed to be a regular practice of the ACIP, but it has not been done in a thorough and systematic way,” Kulldorff said. “We are learning more about vaccines over time, and to stay true to evidence-based medicine, we have a duty and a responsibility to keep up to date with scientific research.”

A controversial shake-up

Earlier this month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 members of the previous ACIP and appointed eight new members, many of whom have voiced skepticism about childhood vaccines.

Kennedy earlier criticized current vaccine policies.

“When I was a kid I got three vaccines,” Kennedy said. “Today they get 69 to 92 jabs of vaccines between conception and when they are 18 years old.”

Kennedy has frequently claimed that today’s vaccine panel to childhood immunization schedule is excessive and not sufficiently scrutinized.

Pediatricians push back

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) swiftly condemned the developments. In a video statement, the AAP said: “Immunization policy through ACIP is no longer a credible process.”

The group pledged to continue publishing its own independent vaccine recommendations for children, regardless of ACIP deliberations.