A major federal panel that advises the government on vaccines has stepped back from efforts targeting Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, a change that comes as some Republicans reportedly caution that additional shifts in vaccine policy could hurt the party in the upcoming midterm elections.

Several vaccine advisers selected by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, had been exploring the possibility of ending federal recommendations for mRNA covid shots. That initiative is no longer going forward, according to two sources familiar with the discussions who spoke to the Washington Post.

Members of the health department’s vaccine advisory committee (ACIP) in recent months have openly raised concerns about both the safety and production of the vaccines despite widespread research. Some of those comments included repeating a debunked claim that DNA contamination in the shots posed a health risk.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) press secretary, Emily G Hilliard, said in a statement to the Guardian that “the committee has not reconsidered its September 2025 decision to classify COVID vaccines under shared clinical decision-making on the CDC immunization schedules.”

“Additionally, the FDA and ACIP have consistently been aligned: the FDA’s approval of COVID vaccines for high-risk groups and the ACIP’s recommendation to include them on the immunization schedule under shared clinical decision-making, which means the decision to vaccinate is based upon individual patient characteristics, are compatible,” the statement said.

Dorit Reiss, vaccine law expert and professor at UC Law San Francisco, says what we’re seeing “reflects two things”.

“The administration does not want to create more controversy around vaccines, realize this is politically harmful, since most voters are not on board with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda. And the current ACIP does not understand its role, which does not extend to setting insurance codes,” she said.

“My impression is that the current ACIP members are either not willing to do the work to understand it, or do not care about boundaries of authority and the rule of law – since they have been criticized for this before.”

Reiss noted that “had ACIP voted on COVID-19 vaccines, when such a vote was not in the federal register notice, it would have been a violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act and a notice problem. That may not have stopped them from doing that, but doing so would have been legally vulnerable.”

“Including COVID-19 vaccine injury and long covid-19 is strange, since it’s not clear what kind of recommendations the committee can make related to that – ACIP can include vaccines risks in its assessment of recommendations, but does not have an independent role in treating diseases, from whatever origin. It may just be that the members want to put out claims about covid-19 vaccines harms to the public, but their role is not, actually, to create anti-vaccine propaganda. Their role is to make evidence-based vaccine recommendations,” she continued.

The two mRNA vaccines currently used in the US are produced by Moderna and the partnership of Pfizer and BioNTech, and they account for the vast majority of Covid-19 vaccinations administered.

The move away from direct criticism of the vaccines comes as Republicans face plummeting polling numbers ahead of the November midterm elections, along with continuous criticism from medical professionals. In an interview with the New York Times last November, Kennedy said that he personally directed the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to revise its long-standing stance that vaccines do not cause autism.

But over the past few months, the Trump administration has taken steps that suggest a quieter retreat from the earlier stance that immunizations present a significant threat to public health.

Last week, it was announced that the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Vinay Prasad, would again depart from the agency following a string of high-profile controversies involving the FDA’s review of vaccines. It marked the second time in under a year that he has left his position.

Last month, Casey Means, Trump’s controversial nominee for US surgeon general, appeared before the senate health committee for a two‑hour hearing in which she sidestepped direct questions on vaccine guidance.

“The reality is that we have an autism crisis that’s increasing, and this is devastating to many families, and we do not know as a medical community what causes autism,” Means said while being questioned. She acknowledged that there was an overwhelming body of evidence refuting claims that vaccines cause the condition. “I also think that science is never settled, and I think that the effort to look at comprehensive, cumulative exposures into what is causing autism is important.”

The FDA also recently reversed an earlier decision and agreed to evaluate Moderna’s application for what would be the first mRNA-based flu vaccine after previously declining to review it.