WASHINGTON - Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all 17 members of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel of vaccine experts and is in the process of replacing them, his department said on Monday, drawing protest from many vaccine scientists.
The move is the most far-reaching in a series of actions by Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine. Scientists and experts said the changes to the vaccine panel, which recommends how vaccines are used and by whom, would undermine public confidence in health agencies.
“Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” said Kennedy Jr. “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’s decision marks one of his most aggressive moves to date to overhaul how the government makes decisions about vaccines.
His decision also marks a reversal from what a key Republican senator said the Trump Cabinet member had promised during his confirmation hearings earlier this year. Sen. Bill Cassidy, (R, La.), the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said Kennedy had promised to maintain the advisory committee's current composition.
"If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes," Cassidy said.
