Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight new members of a vaccine advisory committee Wednesday, including a prominent critic of the Covid-19 vaccine, after removing the panel’s 17 members earlier this week.
A longtime anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy announced eight selections to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a group of scientists tasked with making vaccine recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control.
“On Monday, I took a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines by reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). I retired the 17 current members of the committee. I’m now repopulating ACIP with the eight new members who will attend ACIP’s scheduled June 25 meeting,” Kennedy posted on X.
“The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians. All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”
Kennedy’s appointments include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist who rose to prominence for his skeptical views towards punitive Covid-19 lockdowns. His opposition to lockdowns and Covid-19 vaccine mandates eventually got him fired from Harvard Medical School after an extended leave of absence.
Along with National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Kuldorff helped author the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter expressing skepticism about Covid-19 lockdowns. The letter drew intense criticism at the time, but the deleterious physical and mental health effects of the stringent lockdowns ended up coming to fruition not long after.
Another member of Kennedy’s overhauled vaccine advisory committee is Dr. Robert Malone, a biochemist known for contributing to the development of mRNA vaccine technology. Malone emerged as a strong skeptic of the Covid-19 vaccine and appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience in December 2021 in an episode that generated enormous controversy. Malone has also promoted alternative Covid-19 treatments, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
“Thank you for the honor of serving my country in this way, @SecKennedy. I will do my best to serve with unbiased objectivity and rigor,” Malone said on X.
Kennedy’s lesser-known appointments to the committee are Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, Dr. Retsef Levi, Dr. Cody Meissner, Dr. James Pagano, Dr. Vicky Pebsworth, and Dr. Michael Ross, all of whom have significant medical and academic experience in vaccines and other forms of medicine.
Kennedy is a strong critic of conflicts of interest in public health, the main reason he gave for overhauling the ACIP after promising not to during his confirmation process. Senator Bill Cassidy (R., La.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, voted for Kennedy after he promised not to interfere in ACIP. Cassidy is a proponent of childhood vaccination and pressed Kennedy on his views of vaccines prior to voting for Kennedy, paving the way for his confirmation.