Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 members of a key committee that assesses and recommends vaccines.
Kennedy wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Monday saying he was “taking a bold step in restoring public trust by totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.”
“We are retiring the 17 current members of the committee, some of whom were last-minute appointees of the Biden administration,” Kennedy wrote. “Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028.”
The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP, evaluates the safety, efficacy, and clinical need of the vaccines and submits its findings to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The health secretary cited conflict-of-interest concerns as the reason for overhauling the board.
“The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” Kennedy wrote. “It has never recommended against a vaccine—even those later withdrawn for safety reasons. It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women.”
To make matters worse, Kennedy said, the groups that inform the committee “meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust.”
Many committee members have received funding from pharmaceutical companies, including companies marketing vaccines that the members are tasked with reviewing, Kennedy said, adding the problem isn’t necessarily that members are corrupt.
“Most likely aim to serve the public interest as they understand it,” he wrote. “The problem is their immersion in a system of industry-aligned incentives and paradigms that enforce a narrow pro-industry orthodoxy.”
The new members Kennedy plans to appoint “won’t directly work for the vaccine industry” but “will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, expressed concern about anti-vaccine sentiment taking hold at the advisory committee.
The Louisiana Republican supplied the key vote for Kennedy’s confirmation after the former environmental lawyer promised not to change the advisory committee.
“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said on X. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”