Vaccine experts warn that Kennedy’s sudden move could cause public distrust about the government’s role in promoting public health.
RFK Jr. expels the entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee
Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has removed a panel of 17 members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issues vaccine recommendations.
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Two days after firing all 17 members of the committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced eight new members, including doctors who were criticized for spreading Covid-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Vaccine experts warned on June 9 that Kennedy would create a sudden termination of the entire committee to create public distrust about the government’s role in promoting public health. The new list of members includes scientists, public health experts and doctors.
“All these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, the science of gold standards, and common sense,” Kennedy wrote in a June 11th X post.
The Vaccination Practice Advisory Committee makes recommendations regarding the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It consists of medical and public health experts who develop recommendations for vaccine use in the US civilian population.
“The committee will also consider the safety and efficacy data of the current schedule,” said Kennedy, who has a history of controversial views on vaccines.
Dr. Paul A. Offit, director of the Center for Vaccine Education at the Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, previously told USA Today that Kennedy has reviewed the committee to “fix a non-existent issue.”
Selecting committee members generally involves a 3-4 month review process by the CDC. “We’re likely going to choose like-minded people and I think it will shake up confidence in this committee,” Offit said.
Kennedy’s pick list includes widely respected experts, including Dr. Cody Meissner, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Tufts Children’s Hospital.
However, it also includes prominent figures who criticized the vaccine.
One of them, Dr. Robert Malone, is a virologist and vaccine skeptic who became famous during the Covid-19 pandemic for spreading misinformation about the virus on conservative shows and podcasts. His appearance in the “Joe Rogan Experience” prompted a public turmoil against Spotify after Malone promoted false and misleading conspiracy theories about vaccines and evoked Nazi Germany. Physicians and biochemists have falsely argued that the spike proteins in the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine cause permanent damage to important organs in children.
ACIP’s Kennedy pick also includes Vicky Pebsworth.
Retsef Levi, professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan Management School of School, was also selected to serve on the Federal Advisory Board. In 2023, he posted a video about X criticizing the Covid-19 vaccine. The post is pinned to his profile.
“There is growing evidence that MRNA vaccines cause serious harm, including death, especially among young people,” he said. “We have to stop giving them straight away!”
Another of Kennedy’s ACIP picks, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, wrote Apaper in March calling for the “Covid Commission,” published in the Journal of the Academy of Public Health, and a “Covid Commission,” which examines the handling of the National Institutes of Health during the pandemic.
Other appointees are:
Dr. Joseph R. Hibel, Psychiatrist and neuroscientist with careers in clinical research, public health policy and federal services.
Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medical doctor.
Michael A. Ross, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University.