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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For more than 60 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have relied heavily on an independent panel of experts to establish vaccine recommendations.
But for the first time in its history, no one has served that advisory board after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 sitting members on June 9th.
Noel Brewer, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s Gillins School of Global Public Health, was on a panel called the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices (ACIP) before the shooting became blind in July 2024.
“It’s amazing…it’s shocking,” he said. “None of us had the idea that this would come, so it came out of the blue and wasn’t something that’s done before with ACIP.”
Kennedy plans to replace fired members with new people “currently under consideration,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy’s decision shows a reversal from what a leading Republican senator said Trump minister had promised at his confirmation hearing earlier this year. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Kennedy has committed to maintaining the current composition of the advisory committee.
“If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccination Advisory Committee without modification,” Cassidy said.
In a June 9th post on X, Cassidy said she was in touch with Kennedy to ensure that ACIP is “not filled with people who don’t know anything about the vaccine.”
Kennedy says a “clean sweep” will “reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” and while some will re-traverse the movement towards American health, former health officials and health experts worry that shootings will lead to more distrust in the public health system and hinder access to vaccines.
“An important part of our social contract is that trust and the introduction of unnecessary disruption and disruption will violate that trust,” said Kathy Bradley, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health.
What does ACIP do?
After the Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine, ACIP will review the scientific evidence and develop guidance on who should receive it based on age, existing medical conditions and other factors.
The CDC Director will approve these recommendations and form guidance and insurance coverage from other healthcare providers.
In the OP-ED published by the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy cited evidence from 25 years ago and said the committee was “stricken by a sustained conflict of interest.” Brewer said the committee has since stepped up its review process, which usually takes a year from nomination to membership status.
“All ACIP members are under review due to conflicts of interest,” he said. “We are not allowed to keep them. We are not allowed to accept money from pharmaceutical companies for consulting or grants. We are not allowed to sue them.”
Members are required to disclose conflicts of interest published on the CDC website. The meetings are also open to the public, usually live streamed on the CDC website and are open for public comment.
“We are committed to providing a range of services that will help us to create a range of services that will help us to create a range of services,” said Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC. “It was ridiculous to pull out information from decades ago to dissipate ACIP.”
Can Americans still get vaccinated?
Vaccine guidance for all shots recommended for adults and children is on the spot for now. This means that eligible patients should have access to these vaccines.
But Dr. Tina Tan, a pediatric infectious disease physician and president of the American Infectious Diseases Association, said it could change once Kennedy appointed a new member to the advisory board.
She fears that the administration can return recommendations for certain vaccines, similar to how Kennedy dropped recommendations for Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women on May 27th.
Changes to vaccine recommendations could affect the way private insurers cover certain vaccines, Tan said Americans could block vaccinations and fuel generation.
ACIP also determines which vaccines are included in the vaccine program for children. This will provide vaccines to children whose parents and guardians cannot afford them.
The changes made to the programme are “a major concern for public health,” Brewer said.
He also said it is unclear whether the Covid-19 vaccine will be available in the fall. The committee met in April to discuss Covid-19 shots among other vaccines, but Kennedy canceled the vote that made the recommendation in the fall.
ACIP will be reunited with new committee members between June 25th and June 27th, according to a statement from HHS.
What parents should know
Doctors and public health experts are urging parents to continue to discuss vaccine options with pediatricians and primary care providers.
Tan also said specialized organisations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Medical Association are working together to ensure children have access to the vaccine despite the possibility of changes to recommendations.
She encourages parents to seek guidance and support from organisations in these countries and vaccinate their children if they are not up to date with their shots.
“They need to be up to date right now given the fact that access to vaccines shouldn’t be an issue at this point,” she said. “Americans need to understand that the previously existing federal agencies are no longer the same.”
Adrianna Rodriguez can visit adrodriguez@usatoday.com.
