What I've Been Up To
HPV vaccines, vaccine governance, a new ACIP charter, and a missing meeting
Hi,
With so many new subscribers joining lately, I wanted to reintroduce myself. My name is David. I am a practicing pediatrician in Colorado, an immunization delivery and policy researcher, writer, speaker, and, most importantly, a dad. I bring all of these perspectives to the work I do here, writing about vaccines, public health, and community.
Thank you so much to those who have supported me with likes, thank-yous, and shares. This newsletter is a labor of love, fueled by caffeine, encouragement, and late nights. It is humbling to know that thousands of people read my thoughts.
Between family summer chaos, travel, and watching too many World Cup games, I don’t have an essay to share this week. Instead, I am sharing several things I have been up to recently.
Can we eliminate a cancer? Katelyn Jetelina at Your Local Epidemiologist and I posted about the latest incredible evidence out of England that the HPV vaccine really could eliminate cervical cancer as a public health threat. Between 2020 and 2024, researchers could not find a single woman aged 20–24 (the youngest group with high vaccination rates) who died of cervical cancer in England. We already have strong evidence that the HPV vaccine prevents persistent HPV infection and precancer, but a finding like this has never happened before.
Read more here:
A new partnership aimed at improving how the U.S. makes vaccine policy. The Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP) at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) and The Evidence Collective (TEC) announced complementary initiatives designed to improve U.S. vaccine policymaking and strengthen public trust in vaccines. The VIP will examine how the federal government can improve independent evaluation of vaccine safety and effectiveness and the issuance of recommendations. I will be leading the complementary TEC initiative to examine broader vaccine governance systems and the trust infrastructure surrounding those recommendations. This partnership grew out of my Next Era of Vaccine Governance series. The goal is to produce options that leaders of future U.S. health departments and agencies can evaluate and adopt.
Learn more about TEC’s initiative here:
What the Missing ACIP Meeting Means for Your Fall Vaccines and a New Charter.
First, a new ACIP charter was posted this week. Several things are notable. Paul Offit told STAT, “RFK Jr. is trying to retrofit the charter to make it so that the people that he brought in … qualify.” In addition, the new charter:
Softens the mandatory MMWR publication of adopted recommendations to a discretionary requirement, creating ambiguity about how guidance will formally reach the public.
Adds the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Independent Medical Alliance, Medical Academy of Pediatrics and Special Needs, and Physicians for Informed Consent as non-voting liaison members (organizations that have expressed skepticism of vaccines).
Removes the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) as a liaison member.
Moves ACIP support from CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases to the CDC Office of the Chief of Staff, which may signal greater political control over operations.
Second, there was no Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting this week as planned. This is due to the ongoing legal battle led by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) against HHS. Notably, an ACIP meeting could have occurred if qualified members were selected or ex officio members were appointed, but that didn’t happen. Typically, the ACIP meets every June to discuss annual respiratory vaccines (e.g., influenza and COVID-19). This is one domino in a line that ensures access to vaccines and clear recommendations. What does this mean for those dominoes? Hopefully, not very much. To understand how the missing ACIP meeting impacts vaccine access and recommendations for fall respiratory vaccines, The Evidence Collective put together a quick explainer here and linked to a fantastic scenario planning table from the Common Health Coalition:
Recent Webinars. I’ve given several public webinars recently that are recorded and free to watch. Topics include school immunization requirements (for NDSU), practical communication tools for addressing vaccine hesitancy (MaineHealth Grand Rounds), and navigating misinformation and evolving vaccine policy (National Press Foundation panel for journalists).
That’s it for this week.
Go USA Soccer!
-DH
Community Immunity is written by Dr. David Higgins, MD, MPH, a practicing pediatrician and public health physician whose work focuses on vaccine delivery, health policy, and communication. This newsletter is where he writes about vaccines, public health, and community. When he’s not seeing patients or writing, he’s coaching youth soccer or exploring the Colorado outdoors with his family. Find him on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Bluesky.
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I hope you are having a wonderful summer so far. Go USA! Also, Knicks did it in 5!
As a North East Colorado Nurse Family Partnership nurse, I am very grateful for your hard work and information in this very important area of health!