The University of Minnesota is cementing its role as a leading national voice on vaccine safety and effectiveness, announcing a partnership Tuesday with the American Medical Association (AMA) to give people credible advice about immunizations before the next flu season.
The partnership with the nation’s largest physician organization will gather leading doctors and researchers to review the latest evidence about seasonal vaccines against influenza, COVID-19 and RSV, and offer public guidance by summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention routinely has conducted this type of annual review but has discounted scientific research under the leadership of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said Michael Osterholm, director of the U’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
“The fact that we’re partnering with AMA, I think, surely speaks to the importance of the effort,” he said. “We’re two very capable organizations that have come together to fill in this huge black hole that exists right now when it comes to science-based vaccine recommendations.”
Earlier this year, the CDC reduced the number of recommended vaccines for all children from 17 to 11, with the remaining six recommended only for kids in high-risk groups or whose doctors specifically recommend them. Kennedy’s hand-picked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) stopped recommending widespread use of immunizations against infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and instead has encouraged most patients to talk with their doctors.
In response to the partnership, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said ACIP “remains the nation’s advisory body for vaccine use recommendations driven by gold standard science. While outside organizations continue to conduct their own analyses and confuse the American people, those efforts do not replace or supersede the federal process that continues to guide vaccine policy in the United States.”
The CDC recently advised that children in their preteen and teen years receive one rather than two doses of HPV vaccine to reduce cervical and other cancers, even though no one-dose form exists and studies back the two-dose approach. The U’s Vaccine Integrity Project launched a scientific review of HPV vaccines in response and will release its findings soon.
The U-led project is privately funded and includes former senior health advisers, including former CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who have no direct financial connections to the vaccine industry or conflicts of interest. The organization last summer published a review of flu, COVID and RSV vaccines for high-risk populations, including children and pregnant women. Osterholm said this year’s version will offer advice for more populations and include the latest research.
Osterholm said the organization’s guidance has been meaningful for employers and insurers when it comes to vaccine coverage policies and even to health authorities in other countries. Minnesota last fall broke with federal CDC recommendations when its senior medical officer issued a standing order allowing pharmacists to broadly administer the COVID-19 vaccine without prescriptions.
