diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFUtils.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFUtils.java
index 3599da7edc..71776db364 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFUtils.java
@@ -48,11 +48,6 @@
 public class VCFUtils {
 
     private static final Pattern INF_OR_NAN_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^(?<sign>[-+]?)((?<inf>(INF|INFINITY))|(?<nan>NAN))$", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
-    private static final boolean DEFAULT_VCF_STRICT_VERSION_VALIDATION = true;
-
-    // a global mutable static - is there an alternative ?
-    // there isn't any other reasonable place to keep this state
-    private static boolean vcfStrictVersionValidation = true;
 
     /**
      * Determine if strict VCF version validation is enabled. Defaults to true. Strict version validation