Former Vaccine Adviser Dismissed by RFK Jr. Warns of ‘Chaos’

A former adviser to the federal government on vaccine policy said US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s removal of scientists from a key committee threatens US standing abroad and chaos at the national level.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices “is widely regarded as an international gold standard for vaccine decision making, and other countries have in the past considered the US as a model to guide their own vaccine policies, because they could be sure that the decisions we reached were unbiased and based on evidence,” said Helen Chu, a former ACIP member who spoke Thursday at a virtual press conference.

“But that may no longer be the case.”

Chu’s remarks come days after Kennedy removed all 17 members from the ACIP, a panel that makes recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine safety and effectiveness. The removal startled health experts who say the secretary’s action fits into a broader trend of eroding public confidence in vaccines.

“If we have a system that has been dismantled, one that allowed for open evidence-based decision making, and that supported transparent and clear dialog about vaccines, and then we replace it with a process that’s driven largely by one person’s beliefs, that creates a system that cannot be trusted,” said Chu, who is a University of Washington School of Medicine Professor focusing on infectious disease.

“In the absence of an independent, unbiased ACIP, we can’t trust that safe and effective vaccines will be available for use in the United States. And instead, it will be replaced by a patchwork of different policies by different states,” Chu said.

After removing the committee members, Kennedy on Wednesday announced eight new ACIP members, including Robert Malone, a physician who was critical of vaccines and other measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement of those new members also drew swift pushback from many in the public health space.

Kennedy is “already packing the panel with people who advocated letting COVID rip through our communities, who serve as board members of vaccine disinformation groups, who promoted conspiracies and quack treatments for COVID and measles, and he’s just getting started,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said at the press conference.

Chu also said that she fears the US will become a country where states will have to make their own decisions, and that some “may not choose to recommend vaccines.”

“That is going to create a lot of chaos,” Chu said.

Some states are already condemning Kennedy’s actions.

The governors of California, Oregon and Washington on Thursday issued a joint statementvoicing their commitment to following science and protecting public health.

“We have grave concerns about the integrity and transparency of upcoming federal vaccine recommendations and will continue to collaborate to ensure that science and sound medicine prevail to prevent any loss of life,” they said in the statement.