The flu shot is one of the most routine pieces of preventive care in the United States.
This fall it arrives without the federal advisory committee that has shaped influenza vaccination policy for six decades.
Writing in MedPage Today, Richard H. Hughes IV and Will Walters of Epstein Becker Green examined whether flu vaccines will be available and covered this season now that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices cannot function. Hughes is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice whose work centers on vaccines and public health policy; Walters is an Associate whose practice focuses on vaccine law and public health.
A federal court stayed the appointments of 13 ACIP members in AAP v. Kennedy after Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed the committee’s prior members, and no season-specific federal recommendation for influenza has issued for 2026–2027. The authors do not expect one soon.
Even so, they conclude that access and coverage will mostly hold this season. Professional society guidance, the Affordable Care Act’s coverage rules and renewed insurer commitments, statutory Medicare Part B coverage, the Vaccines for Children program, and pharmacist authority preserved under a federal PREP Act declaration each help carry the system through. They note that HHS could restore the process by appointing qualified members or designating ex officio voting members.
Their central caution is that this resilience runs on workarounds rather than a functioning system, and that prolonged ACIP dysfunction risks future access barriers, coverage disputes, provider confusion, and eroding vaccine confidence.
Get in Touch
To discuss this perspective, contact Richard H. Hughes IV at RHHughes@ebglaw.com or Will Walters at wwalters@ebglaw.com.
