US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday dismissed an expert panel of vaccine advisers that has historically guided the federal government’s vaccine recommendations, saying the group is “plagued with conflicts of interest.”
The entirety of the 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the vaccine schedule and required coverage of immunizations, will be retired and replaced with new members, Kennedy announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The HHS secretary has authority to appoint and dismiss ACIP members, who typically serve four-year cycles. But removing the entire panel prematurely is unprecedented.
Kennedy said that a number of the panel’s members — traditionally pediatricians, epidemiologists, immunologists and other physicians — were “last-minute appointees” of the Biden administration. “Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” he wrote.
ACIP members are not political appointees. However Kennedy, a longtime critic of federal vaccine policy and vaccine safety, argued that the current group is rife with conflicts of interest and has not been transparent in its vaccine recommendations. ACIP recently considered narrowing the recommendations for Covid-19 vaccinations among children.
Kennedy had previously pledged to Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, that he would consult with the senator on filling key roles on vaccine advisory boards, and that he would maintain the ACIP without changes, according to a February speech Cassidy delivered when he voted in favor of Kennedy’s confirmation as HHS secretary.
“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said in a post on X on Monday. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
The move “raises serious questions,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Monday. “It seems to me to be excessive to ask for everybody’s resignation.”
The committee is scheduled to meet on June 25-27 to discuss vaccinations for Covid-19, RSV, influenza, HPV and meningococcal disease. HHS said the meeting will still take place, giving the agency roughly two weeks to fill its advisory panel.
Other health leaders and institutions quickly spoke in defense of the CDC’s advisory committee.
Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC, said the committee had guided US health agencies for more than 60 years and he had relied on its advice during his own 30-year career as a pediatrician.
“This decision will make it far more difficult for pediatricians and other providers to care for their patients. The idea that ACIP has failed to scrutinize vaccines being given to pregnant women and babies is absolutely absurd,” Besser said.
“Nobody has done more than Secretary Kennedy to sow unwarranted doubt about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and this decision demonstrates a complete lack of caring about the health and safety of every American.”
Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement that’s Kennedy’s decision undermines trust and “upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives. With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said the committee members were highly qualified and Kennedy’s allegations about the integrity of ACIP were “completely unfounded and will have a significant negative impact on Americans of all ages.”
“Unilaterally removing an entire panel of experts is reckless, shortsighted and severely harmful.”
“I’ve never seen anything this damaging to public health happen in my lifetime,” the adviser said.
“I’m shocked. It’s pretty brazen. This will fundamentally destabilize vaccination in America.”
The adviser said providers are no longer going to rely on the CDC vaccination schedule, and will need to create a parallel committee to ACIP that they can trust.
One effort, the Vaccine Integrity Project, launched earlier this year due to concerns that US health leadership was casting unfounded doubt on the safety of well-studied vaccines. Among the project’s considerations: whether there’s a need for a new independent body to evaluate vaccine safety and effectiveness.
“The firing of the ACIP represents one of the darkest days in modern public health,” Dr. Mike Osterholm, the Vaccine Integrity Project founder said. “Mr. Kennedy has no interest in science or saving lives. We have entered into a dangerous time for the health of the country.”