Tell the CDC: We Need Broad Access to Vaccines and Science-Based Expert Advisory Committees
Public comment to CDC ACIP vaccine committee opens today, 6/9, and closes 6/20 at 11:59pm EDT
Today, June 9, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced via a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that he was removing all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). RFK Jr. and other political appointees within HHS have bypassed expert advisory committee input in imposing severe restrictions on COVID vaccines, including removing vaccine recommendations for pregnant people and children. Now, just weeks before ACIP was scheduled to meet to discuss COVID and other vaccine recommendations, RFK Jr. seems poised replace the entire expert advisory committee membership with anyone available who is willing to go along with his anti-vaccine agenda.
Public comment for the June 25-27 ACIP meeting opened today, and closes June 20. Let’s flood the public comment with our pro-vaccine voices. Written comment submission and oral comment registration closes June 20 at 11:59 EDT.
View the docket here: https://www.regulations.gov/document/CDC-2025-0024-0001
You may also register to make an oral comment at the meeting (via online teleconferencing) by filling out the oral comment form: https://www2.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/acip_publiccomment.asp All fields are required. If you are not affiliated with an organization, you can write “Self” or “Not Affiliated" in the organization field. If you are selected for oral comment, you should receive an email by June 23, which usually requires a response to confirm your spot.
See the CDC’s ACIP meeting page for additional meeting details: https://www.cdc.gov/acip/meetings/index.html
Talking Points
Below are some key talking points for your comment, and a sample comment is below the divider. Please feel free to copy, modify, and share any of the text for your own advocacy.
CDC ACIP expert advisors must support widespread and unhindered access to a wide range of safe and effective vaccines.
Currently available FDA-approved vaccines are safe and effective. Children, adults, and pregnant people all rely on CDC ACIP vaccine recommendations for access to vaccines and insurance coverage.
We need a universal recommendation for COVID vaccination for people of all ages, including children and pregnant people, at least annually.
You should also include brief comments about why vaccination matters to you personally. You might include how vaccination for a broad range of infectious diseases has positively impacted you and your community or how barriers to vaccination or insurance coverage have impacted you or a loved one.
Optionally, at the beginning of your comment, you may also include whether or not you have any financial conflicts of interest relevant to the topic.
Sample Comment
Docket: CDC-2025-0024
June 9, 2025
Public Comment for the June 25-27, 2025 CDC ACIP Committee Meeting
To the CDC ACIP committee:
I have no conflicts of interest to disclose. I am writing to express my grave concerns about the recent termination of all 17 existing CDC ACIP committee members, announced on June 9 by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Independent expert scientific and medical input from the ACIP committee is crucial to inform access to safe and effective FDA-approved and authorized vaccines and also to guide insurance coverage and coverage for uninsured children through the Vaccines for Children program. Vaccination rates for many diseases are far too low, and our communities are impacted by outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, pertussis, and COVID. Many of these infections cause serious and potentially lifelong consequences in unvaccinated children and adults. Children should not die because of a lack of access to affordable vaccines. We need strong support for effective vaccination campaigns.
The recent restrictions on COVID vaccinations are a serious concern. All of us must have regular access to updated COVID vaccines, which must be made available widely and must be covered by health insurance. The scientific evidence is clear: COVID vaccination within the last year reduces the risk of symptoms, severe disease, disability, and death for people of all ages, including previously healthy people. The new policies impose harmful restrictions on COVID vaccines, which limit vaccine access for children, pregnant people, and adults under age 65. These restrictions also sow uncertainty and doubt about COVID vaccines, while there is no scientific basis for the restrictions. Please take action to reinstate universal COVID vaccine recommendations for people of all ages, at least once a year, for all COVID vaccine formulations.
Vaccine policy changes must be undertaken in a science-based, open, and transparent process that prioritizes public health. The COVID vaccine policy updates were done in a top-down fashion, without appropriate expert advisory committee input. FDA’s VRBPAC committee members were not allowed to discuss the COVID vaccine policy changes at the May 22 meeting. There was no opportunity to provide public comment on the new policies before they were implemented. Influenza vaccine strain selection also occurred in a closed-door meeting without input from the FDA VRBPAC committee and with no opportunity for public comment. Please ensure that all vaccine policy decisions are made using appropriate open and transparent processes, which are essential to our democracy.
Thank you for taking action to protect access to vaccines. I also encourage you to contact your elected officials to let them know you oppose this action by RFK Jr. You can use the instructions and modify the sample letter provided in my previous substack post.