Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is requesting the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Pensions, and Labor to investigate Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he fired all members of a key vaccine panel last week. 

In a Friday letter to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sanders called Kennedy’s firing of all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices a “dangerous and unprecedented decision that will have a profoundly negative impact on the lives of the American people.”

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“I am requesting that we immediately initiate a bi-partisan investigation into these firings and conduct serious oversight into the actions Secretary Kennedy has taken to mislead the American people about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and erode public health,” Sanders wrote. 

Kennedy, who has expressed skepticism about the efficacy, safety, and level of testing regarding certain vaccines, replaced the advisory board with several people who share his sentiment. The panel is tasked with reviewing scientific data to recommend vaccine use, guiding Centers for Disease Control and Prevention policy that ensures insurance and government programs cover vaccines.

“The members include a former professor who made comparisons between the COVID vaccine and Nazi medical experiments, a Board member of a prominent anti-vaccine organization that works closely with the anti-vaccine organization Secretary Kennedy founded, and the Operating Partner of a private equity firm,” Sanders noted in his letter. 

Sanders suggested that Kennedy’s decision to fire the members of the vaccine panel may be in violation of a promise he made to Cassidy during his confirmation hearing, namely that he would not undermine how the advisory committee operates. 

Cassidy, a physician, was hesitant about confirming Kennedy due to his vaccine skepticism, but he ultimately voted to confirm him after he promised to maintain the existing system for vaccine approval and monitoring.

“I will carefully watch for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines,” Cassidy said in a floor speech. 

Upon hearing news of Kennedy’s decision to fire the entire advisory board, Cassidy took to social media to squash concerns that the board would no longer operate as it was intended to. 

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy posted. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”

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Sanders’s letter to Cassidy came after members of the American Medical Association passed an emergency resolution calling on the Senate to investigate Kennedy for firing the advisory board members.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Cassidy’s press secretary for comment.