Vaccine advisers personally selected by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were left bewildered over a crucial vote that could alter national immunisation guidance, a new report reveals.
Chaos Over Changing Wording
Members of the influential Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) appeared puzzled during a meeting on Thursday, 4 December 2025. The confusion stemmed from a scheduled vote on potential changes to hepatitis B vaccine recommendations after the wording of the proposal was altered multiple times in the days leading up to the session.
As a result of the disarray, the committee was forced to postpone the critical vote until Friday. The situation was described by CNN, which reported on the internal discord.
'Evaluating a Moving Target'
Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a member of the committee, voiced the panel's frustration, stating they had received the third version of the voting questions within 72 hours. "We're trying to evaluate a moving target," Hibbeln said during the Thursday meeting.
An unidentified individual echoed this sentiment during a livestream of the proceedings, emphasising, "We really need to know what we're voting on."
Dr. Robert Malone, the ACIP vice chair who chaired the meeting, attributed part of the problem to an "audio/visual harmonisation" issue. He explained that updated language for the vote could not be displayed instantly on the presentation slides. The committee eventually called for a break to "sort things out."
A History of Delays
This was not the first delay for this particular decision. The committee had initially been expected to vote on proposed changes to hepatitis B immunisations back in September. That vote was rescheduled after Dr. Malone stated there was not sufficient evidence at the time to ensure a "confident evidence-based recommendation."
While the guidelines set by the ACIP are not legally binding, the CDC almost always adopts their recommendations, making the committee's votes profoundly influential for public health policy across the United States.
The advisers at the centre of this confusion were all appointed by Secretary Kennedy earlier this year, marking a significant shift in the composition of the key advisory body.
