The Trump administration has updated the charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a key federal vaccine advisory panel, introducing changes that critics argue could amplify anti-vaccine voices and undermine public confidence in vaccines. These revisions follow a legal challenge that temporarily halted ACIP meetings after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced committee members with his own selections, leading to decisions like declining COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for high-risk groups and questioning newborn hepatitis B shots. The new charter broadens member qualifications to include Kennedy allies and incorporates language from vaccine critics, focusing on "gaps in vaccine safety research" and "cumulative effects" of shots, which are considered settled science. Despite HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon stating the renewal is routine, critics like Richard H. Hughes IV believe it signals a continued effort to weaken ACIP and vaccine policy.