RFK Jr. Dismisses Vaccine Advisers as HHS Revamps Approvals (2)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is removing a panel of outside advisers that make vaccine recommendations to the federal government, his latest move to overhaul approval of vaccines in the US.

The removal of the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) comes ahead of a meeting scheduled for June 26 to consider Covid-19 and other vaccines. The ACIP meets several times a year and advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy.

“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy said in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Monday.

The HHS said in a statement the move is an attempt to build more public trust in the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.

In announcing the ACIP cuts, the HHS said that new panel members will “ensure that government scientific activities are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available.” In doing so, the HHS pointed to a May executive order titled Restoring Gold Standard Science.

Kennedy said in a statement that the HHS was “prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda.”

“The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies,” Kennedy said.

An ACIP member affected by the announcement told Bloomberg Law the move was more of a shock than surprise, calling it a continuation of a certain line of thinking.

Kennedy has been criticized for his overhaul of US immunization practices amid concerns he may undermine confidence in vaccines. Early on in his tenure as the nation’s top health officer, Kennedy postponed an ACIP meeting. That same month, the administration canceled a Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting.

In May, Moderna Inc. announced the Trump administration was canceling a contract with the drugmaker worth up to $766 million to develop bird flu vaccines. Likewise, Kennedy recently announced that Covid shots for healthy children and pregnant women were no longer recommended by the CDC.

The CDC softened the message shortly after, updating the childhood vaccination schedule to state healthy children “may receive” Covid jabs and stating in the adult vaccine schedule that people should wait until after pregnancy for vaccination.

Kennedy’s announcement came after reports that just four members of ACIP had received termination notices.

Those ACIP termination notices were “completely novel” in the relationship between the federal government and the outside vaccine advisers, said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown Law who also serves on a National Institutes of Health advisory committee.

“It’s not a time to be an objective, independent scientist in our nation today,” Gostin said in an interview before Kennedy’s announcement. “You’re made not to feel welcome or valued.”

“For generations, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been a trusted national source of science- and data-driven advice and guidance on the use of vaccines to prevent and control disease,” American Medical Association President Bruce A. Scott said in a statement. “Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives.”

Kennedy said the effort is a much-need “clean sweep,” adding that ACIP would “no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas.”