Who makes recommendations regarding immunizations?

Your pediatrician?

The CDC?

Merck?

“The most influential body making vaccine recommendations in the USA is the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).”

Vaccinology – An Essential Guide

In the United States, those recommendations are made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a group of medical and public health experts who provide advice and guidance to the Director of the CDC.

Immunization Advisory Groups

Again, ACIP is just for the United States though.

In other countries, there is:

• Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI)
• Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI)
• Ireland’s National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC)
• Finland’s Kansallinen rokotusasiantuntijaryhmä (KRAR)
• National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI)
• Mexico’s Centro Nacional para la Salud de la Infancia y la Adolescencia (CeNSIA)
• Portugal’s Comissão Técnica de Vacinação (CTV)
• National Advisory Group on Immunization of South Africa (NAGI)
• Korea Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (KACIP)
• Sweden’s Referensgrupp för nationella vaccinationsprogram
• UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)

Altogether, at least 99 countries have their own National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups!

“Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (ITAGs) are expert advisory committees that provide recommendations to guide a country’s national immunization programs and policies. They consist of independent experts with the technical capacity to evaluate new and existing immunization interventions. The premise of these groups is to facilitate a systematic, transparent process for developing immunization policies by making evidence-based technical recommendations to the national government. Their role is primarily technical and advisory and is intended to bring increased scientific rigour and credibility to the complex process of making immunization policies, free of political or personal interests.”

Bryson et al on A global look at national Immunization Technical Advisory Groups

These National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups help countries to tailor immunization schedules and vaccination programs to local needs, while also considering the vaccine policies of the WHO and other experts.

More on Immunization Advisory Groups

• Translating Foreign Language Immunization Schedules
• Immunization Schedules from Other Countries
• Global Vaccine Side Effect Reporting Systems
• Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
• WHO – National advisory committees on immunization
• Study – A global look at national Immunization Technical Advisory Groups.
• WHO – Vaccine Policy Recommendations
• Antivaxers inundate the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting