ACIP government vaccine panel meeting postponed after judge voids RFK Jr.'s appointmentshttps://www.advocate.com/health/acip-vaccine-meeting-postponed 🔗Christopher Wiggins (16 March 2026)
A key federal vaccine advisory panel has postponed its upcoming meeting after a federal judge blocked what scientists say are dangerous changes to U.S. immunization policy pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Advocate has learned that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, paused its scheduled March 18–19 meeting following the ruling. Reached for comment, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed that "the ACIP meeting is postponed."
The disruption comes after U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts temporarily halted multiple elements of Kennedy's overhaul, including revisions to the childhood vaccine schedule and the installation of new ACIP members. In doing so, the court effectively sidelined the reconstituted panel and froze actions taken under it.
Callen-Lorde medical director Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a longtime leader in federal HIV and vaccine policy, told The Advocate the ruling represents a necessary correction, but one that comes after significant damage.
"We should all be relieved that science and law aligned to reverse capricious vaccine policy designed to validate the authoritarian and self-serving agenda of the Secretary of Health," Daskalakis said. "I fear that so much damage has already been done. This, however, is an important statement on the validity of Kennedy's place in health leadership."
