Congresswoman Schrier, Ranking Member Pallone introduce Legislation to Protect Children and Mothers, Strengthen our Nation’s Vaccine Infrastructure

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) and Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) introduced the Family Vaccine Protection Act to remove politics from the life-saving immunization schedule, stand up to RFK Jr.'s dangerous anti-vaccine actions, and protect children, expectant mothers, and other vulnerable members of the community from vaccine-preventable diseases.

"Our current Secretary of Health and Human Services continues to undermine science and peddle conspiracy theories. This nation's physicians and public health system have relied upon the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) for 61 years to evaluate scientific evidence, ask questions, and ultimately make a determination about whether to recommend a vaccine and for whom. This bill ensures that physicians and other scientific experts are the ones who evaluate those studies and make those decisions, as has always been the case. Recent efforts to undermine the ACIP by pressuring physicians like Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos to parrot RFK Jr. talking points have unfortunately made this bill necessary," said Congresswoman Schrier, M.D. "I will continue to stand up for scientific integrity and fight RFK Jr.'s peddling of conspiracy theories."

"Secretary Kennedy is governing by conspiracy theory and putting the health of our children at risk," said Ranking Member Pallone. "After just a few months in office, he's already broken the promise he made during his Senate confirmation hearing to not interfere with the lifesaving childhood vaccine schedule. He's simultaneously presided over the largest measles outbreak in decades while actively undermining vaccination efforts for COVID-19, measles, polio, and the flu-especially for pregnant women and the tiniest infants, two of the highest risk populations. Enough is enough-it's time to take politics out of medicine and ensure all families have access to affordable life-saving vaccines. Dr. Schrier and I are introducing this legislation to keep Secretary Kennedy's conspiracy theories out of the doctor's office and to protect moms and their kids."

The Family Vaccine Protection Act comes on the heels of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s unilateral withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women. This reckless decision-circumventing science-based approval-begins a slippery slope toward a sicker America where Kennedy alone decides what's best for American children.

For months, RFK, Jr.'s HHS and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have ignored science-based recommendations by the independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In April, ACIP voted unanimously to expand its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine recommendation and to provide a meningococcal vaccine to healthy teens and college-aged kids-but Kennedy ignored these recommendations. These actions are setting a dangerous precedent and jeopardizing access through critical programs like the Vaccines for Children program.

Secretary Kennedy is actively backtracking on his own promise in November 2024 that he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" and contradicting his own Food and Drug Administration's framework. His brazen undermining of ACIP's independence and persistent spreading of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories threatens decades of public health progress-and will put the lives of pregnant women and unvaccinated infants at risk.

The Family Vaccine Protection Act protects access to affordable vaccines by:

• Codifying current practices of a rigorous, science-based system for recommending vaccines:
  • This bill sets a timeline for new vaccine consideration by ACIP and requires that both the CDC Director and HHS Secretary adopt such recommendations if supported by a preponderance of scientific evidence.
• Strengthening the independence of the Advisory Committee:
  • This bill writes the role of ACIP into statute and specifies its structure, its membership selection processes, meeting frequency, and expertise requirements-protecting it from dissolution or undue interference by the HHS Secretary.
• Keeping politics out of medicine by ensuring the Secretary cannot unilaterally make or withdraw vaccine recommendations contrary to the advice of scientific experts:
  • This bill requires the HHS Secretary to adopt the official vaccine decision as set by ACIP-and if the Secretary chooses to depart from an ACIP recommendation, it requires the Secretary to publish the basis for the agency action, including an explanation as to how the action is supported by the best available, peer-reviewed scientific evidence.
• Establishing guardrails to ensure vaccines remain accessible to all:
  • This bill protects the role of ACIP in making immunization recommendations for the Vaccines for Children Program as well as for the purposes of cost-free coverage of vaccines by health insurance plans-ensuring continued widespread access to life-saving vaccines.

The Family Vaccine Protection Act has received the support of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Disease Society of America, and Vaccinate Your Family.

Read the full bill text HEREand a section-by-section summary HERE.