Dissolution of CDC infection control panel raises concern over stagnant guidelines

Editor's Note

The Trump administration has dismantled the federal committee responsible for shaping national infection prevention standards in hospitals, sparking concern among healthcare experts over future preparedness, NBC News reported May 6.

According to the article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed members of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) on Friday that the group had been terminated as of March 31, in line with a Trump executive order aimed at reducing the federal workforce.

HICPAC had played a critical role in issuing evidence-based guidance on hospital infection control, including standards for hand hygiene, isolation procedures, and mask usage. As detailed by NBC News, the committee’s termination comes amid broader cuts to federal health agencies, despite a March 26 appeal from four professional societies urging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to preserve the group. Several of HICPAC’s web pages have since been archived, making existing recommendations viewable but no longer subject to revision.

As detailed in the article, committee members voiced alarm that the absence of HICPAC could freeze national guidelines at a time when evolving threats, like drug-resistant organisms, demand up-to-date science.  Before its termination, HICPAC was finalizing long-overdue updates to airborne pathogen guidance, last revised in 2007, based on lessons from COVID-19.

The article also details concerns about lack of an open process for developing infection control guidance. The CDC letter stated that HICPAC had made 540 recommendations over more than 30 years, 90% of which were adopted.