The CDC has added topics on COVID-19 vaccine injuries and long COVID to the agenda of the next meeting of its vaccine advisors, also known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in March.
The meeting, which was initially scheduled to take place from Feb. 25 to 27, was postponed to Mar. 18–Mar. 19 this week, after several leading medical groups in the U.S. filed a lawsuit seeking a ruling to block the CDC from holding it.
According to the Federal Register, the meeting scheduled from 8 am ET to 5 pm ET on Mar. 18 and Mar. 19 will include discussions and potentially votes on COVID-19 vaccine injuries and long COVID.
The CDC’s recent scrutiny of COVID-19 vaccine injuries comes as the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks to revamp the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Earlier this year, it was reported that RFK Jr. had prematurely ended the terms of at least four members of the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. The eight-member panel makes recommendations on vaccines and conditions to be added to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
COVID-19 vaccine developers: Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX), Moderna (MRNA), and Novavax (NVAX).