Major association of physicians presents itself as a go-to alternative vs. the government on vaccine expertise
One of the largest and most influential societies of medical professionals in the U.S. is going toe-to-toe with Robert F. Kennedy’s HHS over changing vaccination recommendations.
The 67,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced its intentions June 25.
Noting that AAP has published its own immunization schedule “for decades,” the organization’s president, Susan Kressly, MD, encouraged pediatricians and parents to listen to the AAP rather than HHS “at a time when there’s confusion in Washington around vaccine recommendations.”
“We are the experts on vaccines for infants, children and adolescents,” Kressly said in a brief video posted online. “We are not backing down or waiting to act. We are moving forward, continuing the work we've always done that parents and pediatricians can rely on, rooted in science and focused on children.”
A new ACIP steps up to the plate
Kressly’s pronouncement came in response to what had been said earlier in the day by Kennedy’s newly appointed vaccine panel.
The panel, formally the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, said through its chair Martin Kulldorff, PhD, that the number of vaccines 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 called for action to “rebuild public trust” in federal health institutions post-pandemic, blasting what he called “inflated promises” about the COVID vaccines and mandates, according to NPR and numerous other outlets.
He added that ACIP would establish a new workgroup to study and evaluate the cumulative effects of the existing vaccine schedule. Of particular interest to the panel, Kulldorff indicated, is “the interaction between different vaccines, the total number of vaccines, cumulative amounts of vaccine ingredients and the relative timing of different vaccines.”
The panel is especially interested in scrutinizing vaccines not only for COVID but also for hepatitis B and a combination shot aimed at preventing chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella.
Kulldorff, an epidemiologist, is a former Harvard Medical School professor who maintains that he was fired in 2024 for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. During the pandemic, he proposed allowing most people to develop herd immunity through COVID infection, a strategy widely criticized by many of his peers. He also questioned the wisdom of using lockdowns to suppress the spread of the virus.
Kennedy himself is on the record as standing against some widely accepted vaccine protocols. In late May he nixed the CDC’s recommendation of COVID shots for healthy children and pregnant women.
A reaction for every action
The AAP video statement by Kressly also trails Kennedy’s firing of all previous members of the ACIP panel.
This was a move he had promised not to make, multiple news and outlets pointed out.
Many immunization watchers have criticized Kennedy’s replacements as bold anti-vaxxers or, at least, as sympathizers with vaccine skeptics.
A common charge against vaccine skeptics is that they are wrong to assume children’s immune systems can become overwhelmed by the cumulative effects of “too many” shots.
Earlier in the month, on June 9, the AAP posted a written statement from Kressly warning about the lack of evidence for such positions.
“We are witnessing an escalating effort by the [Trump] Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines,” Kressly wrote. “Creating confusion around proven vaccines endangers families’ health and contributes to the spread of preventable diseases. This move undermines the trust pediatricians have built over decades with our patients and leaves us without critical scientific expertise we rely on.”
Vaccine-autism connection (or lack thereof) in the pipeline
In Wednesday’s video presentation, a brisk broadside just two minutes long, Kressly empathizes with parents.
“The news is relentless. The details are confusing. The actions are concerning and perhaps even illegal,” she says. “But recent events don’t mean the end of science-based recommendations for our children because the American Academy of Pediatrics is still here.”
As Health Exec was going to press, the new ACIP surprised many watchers when members voted to recommend a Merck shot for protecting infants against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
Meanwhile ACIP was deciding which strains of the flu to protect against in the upcoming season and, more controversially, planning to eyeball a vaccine preservative that Kennedy has associated with rising rates of autism.
Clearly, this is a developing story. Stay tuned.
Note: This story has been corrected from its original version, which misspelled Kressly. We regret the error.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.