A major US federal vaccine advisory committee has retreated from efforts targeting mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, with Republicans reportedly concerned that further policy shifts could hurt the party in the upcoming midterm elections.
Advisers selected by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr had been exploring the possibility of ending federal recommendations for the shots, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. That initiative is no longer going forward. The committee had previously raised concerns about vaccine safety and production, including repeating a debunked claim that DNA contamination posed a health risk.
The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that the committee had not reconsidered its September 2025 decision to classify Covid vaccines under shared clinical decision-making. Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at UC Law San Francisco, said the move reflected the administration’s desire to avoid more controversy, as most voters do not support Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda. She added that the current committee did not understand its role, and that a vote on Covid vaccines would have been legally vulnerable under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
The retreat comes as the administration has taken steps to soften its earlier stance on immunisations. The top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration, Vinay Prasad, is departing the agency again after a series of controversies, and Casey Means, the nominee for surgeon general, recently sidestepped direct questions on vaccine guidance during a Senate hearing. The two mRNA vaccines currently used in the US, from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, account for the vast majority of Covid-19 vaccinations administered.
