For decades, Americans have trusted that our nation’s vaccine recommendations are shaped by the best medical minds in the country. That trust is now at risk.

In a deeply troubling move, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has disinvited over a half-dozen of the nation’s leading medical organizations from participating in the workgroups that advise the CDC on vaccines. These groups include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and others—organizations that represent the very doctors and scientists who treat us and our families every day.

By excluding these experts, the government is removing a vital safeguard that has helped ensure vaccine recommendations are grounded in real-world medical expertise and free from political influence. Without input from pediatricians, infectious disease specialists, family physicians, and public health experts, how can Americans be confident in the guidance we receive?

These workgroups don’t just write policy—they build trust. They include experts who evaluate vaccine safety and effectiveness, offer insights into how guidance will affect patients, and help ensure that recommendations are practical for clinics and communities alike. Removing them creates a dangerous vacuum where public health decisions can become fragmented, politicized, or worse—ignored.

Doctors are already warning that this change could lead to mixed messages between federal guidance and what patients hear in the exam room. That confusion puts lives at risk.

We’re calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the CDC to immediately reinstate these professional medical organizations into the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) workgroups. Our health, our families, and our national trust in vaccines depend on it.

Bring back the experts. Restore integrity to vaccine policy—before it’s too late.