US vaccine watchdog effort begins as measles surge draws alarm

The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota has quietly begun to steer a national initiative to safeguard the scientific foundations of US vaccine policy — a bold move at a time of mounting political interference and an escalating measles outbreak.

Funded by a $240,000 gift from Alumbra, a foundation established by Walmart Inc. heiress Christy Walton, the so-called Vaccine Integrity Project will explore how independent groups, including scientists, doctors and public health organisations, can help uphold science-based vaccine guidance if government groups are weakened by political pressure or resource cuts.

The project will be steered by a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and a past president of the Institute of Medicine.

Pandemic preparedness

According to Michael Osterholm, the centre’s director and a longtime adviser to multiple US administrations on pandemic preparedness, the initiative grew out of concern that key federal health agencies could be undermined under the current Trump administration.

“None of us, I think, fully appreciated the destruction that was going to occur to the entire infrastructure,” he said.

The project isn’t meant to replace official bodies like the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, he said.

“My first, second, and third priority is to have government do their job and have us stay out of it. But if they’re not going to do it, then who’s going to?”

Measles epidemic

The project is unfolding against the backdrop of a growing measles epidemic that could threaten the US’s hard-won elimination status.

At the same time, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ordered a review of discredited claims linking vaccines to autism, slashed public health funding and empowered advisers who argue against routine immunisations.

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, has even questioned whether Covid mRNA vaccines should remain on the market.

An eight-member steering committee co-chaired by former FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg and Harvey Fineberg, a past president of the Institute of Medicine and current president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will guide the project.

Over the coming months, the Vaccine Integrity Project will convene focus group meetings involving vaccine manufacturers, insurers, academic experts, pharmacies and public health officials to identify gaps that could emerge if government-led communication and decision-making break down.

Insights from the sessions will be shared with the steering committee midway through the process, with a final report expected once the discussions conclude. Osterholm said the goal is to determine whether any concrete actions are needed — or if monitoring alone is sufficient. 

“Maybe there’s nothing to be done,” he said. “But if we do do something, what will it look like? What are the triggers that turn it on and what turn it off? Our goal is to keep a fully functional and scientifically sound ACIP process.”

The initiative has already drawn praise from vaccine experts abroad. Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist at the University of Auckland who formerly chaired a World Health Organisation committee on vaccine safety, called it a vital safeguard.

“This initiative is a firebreak against political arson,” she said.

“It won’t stop the flames, but it will help keep the house from burning down. When trusted systems are under attack, the answer isn’t retreat — it’s independent, science-based vigilance.”

Petousis-Harris said the Vaccine Integrity Project provides an “insurance policy against the collapse of public health leadership” and ensures that scientific expertise continues to have a voice “when institutions are muzzled.”

“We can’t defend science with silence,” she said.