Restructured Vaccine Committee Posts Reduced ACIP Meeting Agenda

In anticipation of next week’s meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory panel, a draft agenda was posted today.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) draft agenda, released on June 18, 2025, reflects a shortened two-day meeting that is open to the public to attend digitally and, if selected, to ask questions.

The agenda includes presentations on COVID-19, RSV, Chikungunya, and other vaccines.

It also includes discussions focused on thimerosal as a vaccine ingredient and the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine in children. Thimerosal is a mercury-based vaccine preservative for multidose vials.

In July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure.

Currently, only a limited number of flu vaccines contain the preservative.

Last week, the CDC’s 17-member ACIP was reduced to eight new members.