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ACIP will Vote on COVID vaccines and Immunization Schedules but what does that really mean?

There is a lot of panicked information flying around about the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voting to add the COVID-19 vaccines to the US childhood vaccination schedule. A Voice for Choice Advocacy wants to get the facts straight and share the reality of what we know and what we don’t know and what we can hypothesize!

Firstly, I want to say I personally love that so many people now know what ACIP is and does. I went to my first ACIP meeting 7 years ago. Oh how the times have changed. Back then I was the only person attending from the health rights movement and holding them accountable. Meetings were in person only, with general seating, so I got to sit next to Paul Offit among others! ACIP allowed public comment on each agenda item so I got to speak 10+ times in a meeting! Once Del Bigtree and others saw my public comment videos and started to attend, ACIP changed their ways - putting up dividers between public and expert advisor seating, limiting public comment time to once a day, and selecting speakers in advance (supposedly) at random. It’s not so fun anymore, but they definitely know we are watching them now!

What we know:
From the CDC website, “The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) provides advice and guidance to the Director of the CDC regarding use of vaccines and related agents for control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the civilian population of the United States. Recommendations made by the ACIP are reviewed by the CDC Director and, if adopted, are published as official CDC/HHS recommendations in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).” ACIP holds quarterly two-day meetings, the next of which starts today, October 19, 2022. At these meetings presentations are given by vaccine manufacturers, as well as CDC/ACIP work groups, which consist of vaccine experts. There are usually a few votes that happen each day, on items of importance. The details of the presentations and the wording of what will be voted on is never disclosed prior to the meeting. The general agenda is released a 1-3 days prior to the meeting. For this quarterly meeting, the agenda states following will be voted on:
• Wednesday October 19, 2022: Pneumococcal Vaccine and COVID Vaccine (VFC)
• Thursday October 20, 2022: Immunization Schedules (implying both child/adolescent and adult schedule revisions)

Nearly two years ago, on February 12, 2021, ACIP voted to “include COVID-19 vaccine recommendations in the child and adolescent immunization schedule.” [link removed]

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was fully FDA approved for 16+ year olds on August 23, 2021 and fully FDA approved for 12+ year olds on July 8, 2022. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has also been given FDA Emergency Use Authorization for 6 months – 11 year olds. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has been given FDA Emergency Use Authorization for 6 months and older. The Novovax COVID-19 vaccine has been given FDA Emergency Use Authorization for 12+ year olds ([link removed]).

The Bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were just given Emergency Use Authorization for 5-11 year olds last week ([link removed])

The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program helps provide vaccines to children whose parents or guardians may not be able to afford them. This helps ensure that all children have a better chance of getting their recommended vaccinations on schedule. Vaccines available through the VFC Program are those recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The VFC program and the COVID-19 vaccination program are currently separate programs, and each currently has its own enrollment requirements. ([link removed])

National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 removed liability from vaccine manufacturers and those administering vaccines for those categories of vaccines that ACIP recommends for routine administration to children or pregnant women, and which are subject to an excise tax by federal law. ([link removed])

Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act removed liability from vaccine manufacturers and those administering vaccines when under a national public health emergency. ([link removed]), and therefore the COVID-19 vaccine.

On October 13, 2022, President Biden extended the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration until January 13, 2023, keeping the PREP Act in place and continuing to shield the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers and those administering COVID-19 vaccines from liability.

What exactly could ACIP vote on?
Based on their two agenda voting items and A Voice for Choice Advocacy’s knowledge of ACIP, here are some guesses of what could be voted on in the next two days:
Wednesday October 19, 2022: Pneumococcal Vaccine and COVID Vaccine (VFC)
• COVID-19 vaccine will become part of the VFC Program and therefore this program will take over purchasing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines to children of low-income parents. (Confident this will be what is voted on)
Thursday October 20, 2022: Immunization Schedules
• COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the official ACIP recommended Vaccine Schedule for 12+ year olds (not just an after note), given this is who it is fully FDA approved for and would transfer the liability shield from the PREP Act to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act; AND/OR
• Recommend Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for 12-17 year olds, as it is currently only recommended by ACIP for 18+ year olds; AND/OR
• Recommend Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines for 5+ year olds, as these were only just given emergency use authorization for children; AND/OR
• Something we have not thought of!

What we are sure of:
Similar to in the early 1980s, the vaccine manufacturers have made it clear to the current Administration they will not sell COVID-19 vaccines without liability protection. Therefore ACIP must recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for routine administration to children or pregnant women, and make them subject to an excise tax by federal law, before the national public health emergency is withdrawn. While ACIP has already recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for children and pregnant women, they likely want to make it more official and add it to the full ACIP schedule rather than being a separate after note. Honestly, this is not something any individual, organization, lobby or even an extremely powerful group could stop because the vaccine manufacturers have the largest lobby in Washington, with two lobbyists per legislator, and they have made a deal with the Administration to be shielded from liability and the Administration would never do away with the COVID-19 vaccine at this point.
So if ACIP feels it needs to do more to ensure vaccine manufacturer liability protection, they will do what is needed either now or at a future date.

What to do next:
• Watch the ACIP meetings today and tomorrow ([link removed])
• If you feel inclined (because their votes are already set), post a public comment to ACIP, asking them to not take any action on the COVID-19 vaccines or the Immunization Schedules. If you do this, we recommend you keep it general so that you are stating they should not approve any vote on these issues regardless of their actual wording. ([link removed] – click on blue comment button on top of page before October 20, 2022 at 3:30 EST)


If you found this information helpful and appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a donation today.

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Together we can make change happen!

C
Christina Hildebrand
President/Founder
A Voice for Choice Advocacy, Inc.
[email protected] [[email protected]]
www.AVoiceForChoiceAdvocacy.org [[link removed]]
www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org [www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org]
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