美国主要医生组织绕开CDC发布呼吸季疫苗建议，COVID接种建议较CDC更积极

US doctor groups issued their own vaccine recommendations for the coming cold and flu season, breaking from the country’s foremost public health agency and widening the divide with the federal government over immunization policy.

The American Medical Association and four other major medical societies said rising mistrust with the direction of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led them to formalize an independent review process, building on an effort began last year. Developed with the independent Vaccine Integrity Project, it includes the recommendations for the use of shots to prevent infections with Covid-19, the flu and RSV, along with the scientific rationale behind them.

“For decades, physicians like me have relied on federal vaccine recommendations because they were based on science and careful review,” AMA President-elect Sandra Fryhofer said during a press conference. “But with the massive changes at the federal level, trust is waning.”

CDC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices traditionally worked with the medical societies to review vaccine evidence and develop recommendations. That relationship has broken down since Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and well-known vaccine critic, became secretary of Health and Human Services. He dismissed the panel’s members last year and replaced them with hand-picked appointees that shared some of his anti-immunization views.

US vaccine policy and the panel itself have since been thrown into disarray. A federal judge in March stayed the appointments of some new members, leading to the cancellation of subsequent meetings, and halted a Trump administration plan to slash the number of shots recommended for US children.

In response, the new recommendations from doctor groups including the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Infectious Diseases Society of America mirror the current CDC guidance for flu and RSV shots, but differ on Covid.

The medical societies recommend Covid vaccination for all infants ages 6 months to 23 months, adults 19 and older, and everyone age 2 and older at high risk of severe illness. The CDC last year moved to an individual-based decision-making approach for Covid shots.

Vaccine policy in the US remains in flux. Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that recommends breaking up the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into individual shots.

The medical societies’ guidance comes amid other conflicts with the CDC, where Erica Schwartz took the helm last month after nearly a year without a Senate-confirmed director.

The agency joined Kennedy in challenging Pennsylvania officials over two measles-related deaths in the state. Nationwide, there have been 2,903 confirmed infections through Aug. 27, the highest for any year since 1991.

“We are dangerously close to losing our measles elimination status, and hundreds of children died from flu in the past two flu seasons,” Fryhofer said. “We must restore trust in vaccines, and that begins with reestablishing an evidence-based process and approach.”