Key takeaways:
- HHS introduced the removing of each member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
- The ACIP is made up of impartial specialists who advise the CDC on vaccines.
Calling it a “clear sweep,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday introduced the removing of all 17 members of a CDC advisory committee that’s instrumental within the making of federal vaccine suggestions.
In a commentary printed by The Wall Avenue Journal and later issued in a press launch, Kennedy stated the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) can be reconstituted with new members “to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.”
HHS has fired all of the members of a key CDC vaccine advisory panel.
The ACIP is made up of impartial medical and public well being specialists chosen by the HHS secretary to serve for as much as 4 years. Suggestions made by the committee are handed as much as the CDC director, who nearly at all times indicators off on them with out modifications.
Echoing previous feedback, Kennedy, a longtime proponent of scientifically disproven claims about vaccines, stated Monday that the ACIP is staffed with specialists “plagued with persistent conflicts of curiosity” who’re “little greater than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”
An investigation of 13 ACIP members printed earlier this yr by Science discovered that they’d “minimal {industry} funds in recent times.”
The members faraway from the committee Monday have been chosen in the course of the Biden administration, a lot of them simply final yr, Kennedy famous.
“With out eradicating the present members,” he wrote, “the present Trump administration wouldn’t have been in a position to appoint a majority of latest members till 2028.”
In interviews and public feedback, specialists had voiced issues that the ACIP and an identical FDA committee — the Vaccines and Associated Organic Merchandise Advisory Committee — can be “in danger” with Kennedy atop HHS.
Notably, the ACIP was set to debate altering the U.S. suggestions for COVID-19 vaccines to a extra risk-based strategy in a gathering later this month. The FDA final month stepped in and altered the coverage earlier than the assembly, outlining new restrictions primarily based on age and danger components.
References:
- CDC. ACIP constitution. https://www.cdc.gov/acip/about/acip-charter.html. Up to date April 1, 2024. Accessed June 9, 2025.
- CDC. ACIP committee members. https://www.cdc.gov/acip/membership/roster.html. Up to date April 14, 2025. Accessed June 9, 2025.
- HHS takes daring step to revive public belief in vaccines by reconstituting ACIP. https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-restore-public-trust-vaccines-acip.html. Printed June 9, 2025. Accessed June 9, 2025.
- Kennedy RF. RFK Jr.: HHS strikes to revive public belief in vaccines. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-jr-hhs-moves-to-restore-public-trust-in-vaccines-45495112. Printed June 9, 2025. Accessed June 9, 2025.
- Wadman M. RFK Jr. says federal vaccine advisors are beholden to {industry}. The proof doesn’t assist him. Science. March 7, 2025. https://www.science.org/content material/article/rfk-jr-says-federal-vaccine-advisers-are-beholden-industry-evidence-does-not-support. Accessed June 9, 2025.
Sources/Disclosures
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Disclosures:
No merchandise or firms that might require monetary disclosure are talked about on this article.
