RFK Jr. Fires Entire Vaccine Advisory Group

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group which helps to devise vaccine policy and recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RFK Jr. has the authority to fire members of ACIP, but wiping out the committee is unprecedented and alarmed the medical community. He claimed he did it because committee members had conflicts of interest. He cited a government report to back his claim, but the report does not support him. Whenever conflict of interest arises for ACIP members, they are required to disclose the conflict and recuse themselves from voting.

ACIP’s recommendations help to shape the CDC’s vaccine schedule and determine which vaccines will be covered by health insurance and the Vaccines for Children Program.

ACIP’s next meeting is schedule for 25 June 2025. RFK Jr. has given no indication of who he will place on the committee. He is known for his anti-vaccine stance.

Dr. Jonathan Temte, who chaired ACIP in 2012 to 2015, told National Public Radio “across the entire world, ACIP has been the paragon of solid, well thought out, evidence-based vaccine policy. I hate to say this, but we are heading in the direction of U.S. vaccine policy becoming the laughing stock of the globe.”

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