American Medical Association Launches Its Own Vaccine Review Process
The American Medical Association (AMA), a medical trade advocacy association, is partnering with a vaccine research group to launch what it describes as an independent, “evidence-based review process” for respiratory vaccines for the next flu season—a role traditionally carried out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).1 2
According to a prepared statement released on Feb. 10, 2026, the AMA initiative is being developed in collaboration with the Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP). The review will focus on influenza, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines and is intended, AMA officials say, “to ensure a deliberative, evidence-driven approach to produce the data necessary to understand the risks and benefits of vaccine policy decisions for all populations.” 2
The AMA says the initiative is a response to what it describes as the effective “collapse” of “evidence-based vaccine policy,” which it says had long been the foundation of recommendations made by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—the panel of doctors who make vaccine recommendations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)—which was fully reconstituted with new members under Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in 2025.3