Published June 06 2025
The Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) has completed the first phase of its activities: a series of facilitated discussions with individuals from a cross section of America’s vaccine and public health ecosystem. The conversations were designed to gain insights into where programs may be threatened and how independent bodies might be able to safeguard vaccine policy, programs, information, and use in the United States and undertake critical activities apart from the government.
Vaccine Integrity Project staff are summarizing the discussions and will present the findings to its Steering Committee, which will guide the development of the next phase of this project. The project’s work has taken on added urgency in the wake of US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision last week to unilaterally change COVID vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women.
Over the past 3 weeks, the Vaccine Integrity Project convened more than 80 participants for a series of facilitated and one-on-one discussions, bringing together people from academia, pharmacies, medical professional associations, healthcare systems, health insurers, public health organizations, and national security and biodefense.
At the start of each session, participants discussed a list of potential non-governmental functions that a body (or bodies) could undertake. Examples include:
- Addressing inaccurate vaccine information in real time
- Developing clinical tools, including issuing vaccine guidelines
- Tracking and reporting vaccine administration, and conducting post-marketing surveillance for safety and effectiveness, among other possibilities.
After this initial discussion, participants prioritized the list and then explored the top vote-getters in greater depth.
In addition to identifying what the participants thought that non-government organizations could and could not do, one of the key objectives of these discussions was to determine what would trigger their need. Each group agreed that triggers for action had either already been met or were on the precipice, depending on the activity in question.
Those potential triggers included, among other developments:
- Compromise of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) or an interruption of its normal processes, rendering it unable to provide evidence-based recommendations or guidance
- Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (eg, measles and whooping cough) and/or the emergence and spread of a new illness
- The increasing frequency of lower vaccination rates, particularly in high-risk populations
Participants were then asked to catalog the risks of taking on the prioritized functions. Many participants cited potential challenges that a new entity might face establishing trust across public health and healthcare and with the public.
Among other risks catalogued during the sessions:
- Inability to access the relevant data to make informed, scientifically based recommendations
- Potential for extraordinary costs
- Health insurance plans becoming scattered and inconsistent across states without federal policy recommendations
Participants also identified a series of benefits to independent organizations taking on necessary functions, including:
- Nimbler and faster action
- The creation of durable functions, such as large, private, post-marketing information databases that can be used to inform the public, regardless of which party controls the executive branch
- Potential to unify and coordinate pro-vaccine voices to improve reach, encourage public comment on vaccine issues, and reduce conflict among groups
- Increased opportunities to share resources
The Vaccine Integrity Project’s Steering Committee will meet this month to discuss the findings from the facilitated discussions and make recommendations regarding any additional activities that can help safeguard vaccine policy, programs, information, and use in the United States.