Kennedy guts CDC’s vaccine panel of independent experts

The 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent vaccine advisory committee are being removed from their posts, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday afternoon.

Kennedy announced the change in an editorial in The Wall Street Journal, claiming that the “committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”

The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, known more commonly as ACIP, consists of medical and public health experts — including pediatricians, epidemiologists and geriatricians — who make recommendations to the CDC about who should get certain vaccines, including the schedule for childhood vaccinations. The committee holds public meetings several times a year where data is presented and reviewed.

The committee reports to the CDC director, who then reviews the recommendations and can choose whether to adopt them.

Members of ACIP are required to disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from voting on vaccines for which a conflict exists. The CDC released a database in March of some members’ previous work on clinical trials or vaccine research funded by drug companies, but much of the information was already public.

Dismantling the committee is among Kennedy’s most aggressive actions so far to reshape U.S. vaccine policy. Kennedy rose to prominence as a high-profile figure in the anti-vaccine movement, and has made a variety of specious and debunked claims about vaccine harms. Since aligning himself with President Donald Trump and becoming head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has overseen a series of steps that have undercut vaccine access, including the pullback of funds for vaccine distribution to children of lower income families.

Kennedy on Monday called for a “clean sweep” of the ACIP, but did not say who he planned to appoint to the now-vacant positions or provide a timeline for filling the roles. HHS said in a press release that ACIP will convene its next meeting from June 25-27.

Members of the ACIP are appointed to four-year terms, and many were slated to serve on the committee for another three years. Kennedy wrote Monday that “without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028.”

The move further degrades the federal government as a trusted source on vaccines and could force consumers, doctors and insurers to look elsewhere for expert guidance on vaccines, according to one ACIP member.

“The clear implication is that CDC will no longer be credible in the space of vaccination,” said the ACIP member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because their employer does not allow them to speak to the media. “Insurers and other funding agencies will have to turn to the professional associations for recommendations about vaccines.”