Vaccine Integrity Project, AMA Announce New Vaccine Review Process

February 12, 2026

The Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP), in collaboration with the AMA announced on February 10 the start of a structured, evidence-based review process to assess vaccine safety and effectiveness for the 2026–27 respiratory virus season. The review will focus on immunizations for influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). 

Building on the evidence review completed for the 2025–26 season, this new effort will establish a process for evaluating the science underpinning respiratory virus immunization.  

The VIP, based at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), and the AMA will convene leading medical professional societies, as well as public health and healthcare organizations, to help define a comprehensive set of policy questions.  

The goal of the work is 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—the approach traditionally used by the federal government.  

For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) served as the engine of evidence-based vaccine policy in the U.S. That system has now effectively collapsed. This new initiative will follow a rigorous process that includes: 

• Structured discussions to define key policy questions 

• Ongoing expert panels and monthly scientific meetings 

• Systematic literature reviews and evidence summaries 

• Comparative analyses across vaccines and populations 

• Data transparency, including a public protocol, allowing the results to be independently verified 

To begin, the VIP and the AMA will meet with medical societies to determine important policy questions that this process will seek to answer. From there, the VIP will begin to assemble comprehensive scientific evidence briefs for influenza, COVID-19, and RSV by reviewing, extracting, and synthesizing the newest published data on virology, epidemiology, vaccine effectiveness, and vaccine safety and will update medical societies about its findings.  

These briefs will be provided to participating medical societies to develop and disseminate immunization guidance for their respective populations. As appropriate, societies will supplement the shared evidence base with population-specific data, such as guidance for pregnant women, children, older adults, immunocompromised individuals, and otherwise healthy adults. 

Participants in the evidence review process will disclose relevant conflicts of interest, and the VIP’s review work will be independently funded through philanthropy. The goal is to ensure that clinicians have access to credible, up-to-date evidence to inform patient care that is backed by the experts of our professional societies—even as the broader vaccine policy infrastructure in the United States remains under strain.