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- Posted May 8, 2025
Trump Administration Ends CDC's Key Infection Control Committee
A federal committee that helped set national rules for infection control in hospitals has been shut down, raising concerns from health experts.
The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) was terminated March 31, though members weren't told until early May, according to several committee members.
The group worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create infection control guidelines, including those for hand washing, mask use and isolating sick patients, NBC News reported.
The CDC shared a letter with members after a virtual meeting last week. It said the move followed a federal order from President Donald Trump to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
Four major professional groups asked federal officials in March to keep HICPAC active.
But the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have not responded to questions about the decision.
Some of HICPAC’s web pages have now been archived. That means the information is still available to the public, but no longer being updated, NBC News reported.
Experts say the committee’s closure could mean infection guidelines won't keep up with evolving science.
“At some point, when things need to change, the guidelines likely won’t change, and then people will be sort of flying by the seat of their pants,” said Connie Steed, a HICPAC member and former president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Dr. Anurag Malani, an infectious disease expert and professor of epidemiology who joined the group in January, said HICPAC was close to finalizing new rules about airborne pathogens -- the first update since 2007.
The guidelines would have included a controversial suggestion that surgical masks could sometimes be used instead of N95 respirators.
“There was really a lot of important material in there and, I think, a lot of lessons learned from Covid that helped shape those guidelines to put us in a better place than we were pre-pandemic,” Malani told NBC News.
Jane Thomason, a lead hygienist with National Nurses United who was appointed to a HICPAC work group last year, also expressed concern.
“While we had significant concerns regarding HICPAC’s make up and proposed guidance, the termination of the committee removes important public transparency,” she said in a statement. “Without HICPAC’s public meetings, there is no longer any public access to the process for drafting CDC guidance on infection control for health care settings. This further undermines safety for patients, nurses, and other health care workers.”
Since its start more than 30 years ago, HICPAC made 540 recommendations to the CDC. About 90% were implemented, a CDC letter said.
Malani said continued input is important to keep health care practices on the same page.
“You’d want to avoid seeing state and local health departments try to figure this out on their own,” he said.
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SOURCE: NBC News, May 6, 2025
