
Before leaving office, President Biden’s outgoing Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary approved the appointment of eight new members to a key vaccine advisory committee responsible for shaping U.S. vaccination policy—a move designed to hinder the Trump administration’s ability to appoint its own members and influence the panel.
Xavier Becerra made the last-minute appointments to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing four outgoing members and adding four new ones. According to an anonymous source cited by STAT, the decision was intended to shield the panel’s scientific direction from potential interference by the incoming administration, ensuring it remains aligned with a pro-vaccine stance rather than the skepticism associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“It was very intentional,” a former senior HHS Department official told STAT. “It was our goal to fill every vacancy on every [federal advisory committee] the department has, with particular focus on ones like ACIP where maintenance of our scientific expertise was critical.”
ACIP is an “independent committee” that reviews safety and efficacy data on vaccines and makes recommendations to the CDC. While the CDC must formally accept ACIP’s recommendations before vaccines can be added to the immunization schedule, it is extremely rare for the CDC director to reject an ACIP recommendation.
ACIP is also supposed to monitor safety signals for previously approved vaccines, issuing updated recommendations based on data collected from government-controlled surveillance systems, including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
Whether the new appointments will hinder the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, should Kennedy be confirmed as HHS secretary, remains uncertain. While the new appointees’ terms extend through 2027, ACIP members serve at-will and can be dismissed at any time.
If confirmed, Kennedy—or any new HHS secretary—could remove existing ACIP members, cancel or delay vaccine-related meetings, or even disband the committee altogether. Additionally, a Trump-appointed CDC director would have the authority to override ACIP’s recommendations, potentially shifting federal vaccine policy.
Kim Witczak, a drug safety advocate and member of the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, criticized the last-minute appointments, calling them “frustrating, yet not surprising.”
“The Biden administration’s quiet move to stack ACIP with industry-aligned members before leaving office is yet another example of how deeply entrenched the pharmaceutical industry is within our regulatory agencies,” Witczak told Children’s Health Defense. “As someone who serves on an FDA advisory committee, I’ve seen firsthand how critical it is to have independent, unbiased voices—people who are not financially tied to the very companies or agendas they are supposed to be regulating.”
The timing and nature of these appointments raise concerns about regulatory capture, in which government agencies operate to protect corporate interests rather than public health. Critics argue that by preemptively installing pro-pharmaceutical voices on ACIP, the Biden administration has taken a deliberate step to prevent Kennedy—or any future reform-minded HHS secretary—from implementing meaningful changes to vaccine policy.