The American Medical Association and the Vaccine Integrity Project have launched a structured initiative to systematically assess the safety, effectiveness, and newly published evidence surrounding influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines for the 2026 to 2027 season, with the goal of creating a formal, sustained approach to assessing the scientific evidence supporting respiratory virus vaccination. The American Medical Association's involvement is notable because the organization has traditionally focused on physician reimbursement, billing practices, and the economics of medical practice rather than broad public health evidence reviews, according to The Washington Post.
The Vaccine Integrity Project, based at the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), previously conducted a review for the 2025 to 2026 season. The new effort expands on that work by formalizing a deliberative process to assess newly published data and inform immunization guidance. For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) guided evidence-based vaccine policy in the US, but the announcement states that this system has now "effectively collapsed." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 members of ACIP in June and appointed replacements that included several vaccine skeptics, The Washington Post reported. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also barred several physician organizations from participating in the panel's work groups.
An HHS spokesman disputed the characterization, telling The Washington Post that the claim is "categorically false" and that ACIP "continues to remain the nation's advisory body for vaccine recommendations driven by gold standard science."
The review process will include structured discussions to define key policy questions, ongoing expert panels and monthly scientific meetings, systematic literature reviews, comparative analyses across vaccines and populations, and public protocols to ensure data transparency and independent verification. Participating medical societies and public health organizations will collaborate to identify priority questions, such as whether newly published data support additional doses of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in specific populations.
"Respiratory viruses hospitalize and kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, and vaccine decisions must be guided by facts, not politics or ideology," said Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, of the University of Minnesota, director of CIDRAP. He stated that the initiative is intended to restore confidence among clinicians and patients through continuous, transparent evaluation of vaccine safety and effectiveness.
American Medical Association (AMA) Trustee Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, noted, "It is our duty as health care professionals to work across medicine, science and public health to make sure the [US] has a transparent, evidence-based process by which vaccine recommendations are made…"
Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, chief executive of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told The Washington Post that the AMA's decision "signals a really important foray for them to come into this space" and "shows the considerable concern around where we are going with evidence-based recommendations."
The Vaccine Integrity Project will generate comprehensive evidence briefs synthesizing published data on virology, epidemiology, vaccine effectiveness, and safety. These briefs will be provided to participating medical societies to inform immunization guidance for pregnant women; pediatric, adolescent, and adult patients; older adults; and immunocompromised populations. Participants will disclose relevant conflicts of interest, and the review is supported through philanthropic funding. Organizers stated that the overarching aim is to ensure physicians have access to credible, up-to-date evidence to guide vaccination decisions in clinical practice.
Sources: American Medical Association, The Washington Post