The American Medical Association is partnering with the University of Minnesota’s Vaccine Integrity Project to create an independent system to review vaccine safety and effectiveness.
The initiative will mirror work historically done by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which has undergone significant changes in recent months under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including an overhaul of its membership and changes to how external medical organizations participate in evidence reviews.
“For decades, [ACIP] served as the engine of evidence-based vaccine policy in the United States,” the AMA said in a Feb. 10 statement. “That system has now effectively collapsed.”
AMA and the Vaccine Integrity Project will convene medical professional societies, public health groups and healthcare organizations to review vaccinations for flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus ahead of the next virus season. The group will not issue vaccine recommendations but will provide evidence reviews to clinicians, state health officials and other decision-makers. This work will be independently funded through philanthropy.
Leaders behind the effort said the initiative is designed to address gaps in vaccine evidence review and provide clinicians and policymakers with clear, science-based analysis.
Michael Osterholm, PhD, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Research and Policy, which created the Vaccine Integrity Project in 2025, told The Washington Post that the effort aims to fill “a huge black hole in public health and medical practice.”
AMA’s involvement in the effort is also noteworthy, as the physician group has long focused on reimbursement and practice economics rather than public health work. Its participation underscores the level of concern among medical leaders about the federal government’s current approach to vaccine evidence review, the Post noted.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon defended ACIP’s efforts and said the claim that its “evidence-based process has collapsed is categorically false.”
“While outside organizations continue to conduct their own analyses and confuse the American people, those efforts do not replace or supersede the federal process that guides vaccine policy in the United States,” he told the Post.
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