Misinformation, guitar ballads and herbal remedies: A who's who of RFK Jr's vaccine committee
Robert F. Kennedy Jr has unveiled his choices for a critical committee whose job it will be to advise the US government on vaccine use.
All 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were abruptly sacked earlier this week in the health secretary's latest assault on US vaccine policy.
Mr Kennedy, a prominent vaccine sceptic, has now named the eight officials who will take over the job of developing recommendations on how to use vaccines to control diseases in the US.
Among them are high-profile critics of the jabs developed to fight Covid-19, an accident and emergency doctor with little or no vaccine expertise, and a former gynaecology professor who advised a supplement company selling healing herbs.
Out of the eight – the minimum number of people required to sit on the committee – at least four have actively spoken out against vaccines in the past in some form.
The sudden dismissal of the original advisors, along with the swift announcement of their replacements, has sparked concern in the public health community that the usually strict vetting procedures have not been followed.
Typically, the ACIP vetting process takes a year and a half. It is not clear how long the new members were vetted for – although Donald Trump took office just five months ago and RFK Jr was only confirmed as health secretary in February.
The ACIP was once considered the 'gold standard for vaccine decision making,' said Helen Chu, one of the fired panel members, but now many in the field are concerned that the panel will advance an anti-vaccine agenda.
Dr Robert Malone
Arguably the most controversial pick is Dr Robert Malone, a medical doctor and biochemist by background who became one of the most vocal critics of mRNA vaccines during the pandemic.
Dr Malone actually claims to have invented mRNA technology – the technology first used during the pandemic to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines, which have been credited with saving millions of lives. Though he was involved in some early mRNA research in the late 1980s, his role has been described as minimal at best.
But during the pandemic, Dr Malone made several appearances on right-wing media channels to share his views on the jabs and was temporarily banned from using X (formerly Twitter) for spreading misinformation.
Dr Malone appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast in 2023 which ignited uproar in the medical community.
In a three hour episode, Dr Malone and Mr Rogan discussed theories and claims about the pandemic and vaccines.
The conversation included a false equivalence between the vaccine and Nazi medical experiments, that the public had been 'hypnotised' into following government Covid guidelines, and that those who are vaccinated after having Covid-19 are at greater risk of harmful side effects.
After the episode aired, a group of 270 doctors, scientists, and academics wrote to Spotify, saying that 'Dr Malone used the JRE platform to promote numerous baseless claims, including several falsehoods about Covid-19 vaccines and an unfounded theory that societal leaders have 'hypnotised' the public. Many of these statements have already been discredited'.
Dr Malone is closely aligned with Mr Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement, and joined both the health secretary and President Trump to celebrate on election night.
Dr Martin Kulldorff
Dr Kulldorff is a Swedish biostatistician and former professor of medicine at Harvard university.
While he has been historically supportive of vaccines – and previously advised the CDC on vaccine safety – he is critical of vaccine mandates.
He has argued that those who have been previously infected with Covid-19 – and children – do not need to be vaccinated.
'Study after study have shown that natural immunity after Covid infection is superior to vaccine immunity,' he wrote on X.
'Forcing the vaccine on everyone is a stain on hospitals, universities and public health officials. How can we trust them on other matters?'
In October 2020, Kulldorff, along with now US National Institute of Health director Jayanta Bhattacharya, co-authored the highly controversial Great Barrington Declaration.
The open letter opposed lockdowns and called for the promotion of herd immunity through infection by lifting all restrictions on lower-risk groups and shielding older people from the virus.
Dr Retsef Levi
Dr Levi is a professor of operations management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has published multiple research papers on Covid-19, including one that raises concerns about the relationship between vaccines and cardiac arrest in young people.
Pinned to the top of Dr Levi's X profile is a post from 2023, in which he said: 'The evidence is mounting and indisputable that MRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people. We have to stop giving them immediately!'
Infectious disease experts and scientists say that mRNA vaccines are safe and effective, and saved millions of lives during the pandemic.
The technology is particularly useful in outbreaks of novel viruses, because the vaccines can be manufactured quickly and to scale.
Dr Joseph Hibbeln
Dr Hibbeln is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. He has previously worked at the US National Institutes of Health, where he focused chiefly on the link between nutrition and mental health disorders.
His work has also influenced US public health guidelines on fish consumption during pregnancy.
Echoing the rhetoric of RFK Jr's 'Make America Healthy Again' movement, a post on Mr Hibbeln's Linkedin says 21st century diets provide 'inadequate brain nutrients that are likely contributing to the high burden of mental illnesses worldwide.'
It is not clear what Dr Hibbeln's views on vaccination are.
Dr Michael A Ross
Dr Ross is a former professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Virginia Commonwealth university.
He has held board, advisory and executive positions at a wide range of private healthcare and life-science firms.
He once worked as an advisor to LarreaRX, a supplement manufacturer which produces capsules made from Larrea Tridenta, a desert herb that the company claims 'can be used for immune support.'
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings about the herb, saying it can be hazardous to health.
The agency says it has received multiple reports of hepatitis associated with consumption of the herb, including at least two cases in which consumers had to undergo liver transplants.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Ross signed an open letter criticising a study which found ivermectin was ineffective for treating the disease.
Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic used in both humans and livestock, was touted as a 'miracle drug' by vaccine sceptics, despite it being proven to have no effect on Covid-19 infection.
'We oppose this fixation on randomised controlled trials at the expense of other clinical and scientific evidence and urge medical policymakers to restore balance to the practice of medicine,' the letter read.
Dr Vicky Pebsworth
Dr Pebsworth is an ICU nurse by background, and has previously served on the FDA's Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
She is a board member of the National Vaccine Information Center, formerly called 'Dissatisfied Parents Together', a Virginia-based organisation which has been widely criticised as a leading source of misinformation about vaccines.
An online biography of Ms Pebsworth says her interest in vaccine safety was peaked when her son 'experienced serious, long-term health problems following receipt of seven live viruses and killed bacterial vaccines' during a health visit as an infant.
Dr Cody Meissner
Dr Meissner is a professor of paediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and previously worked as the Chief of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Tufts Children's Hospital.
He has sat on multiple federal boards, including the ACIP between 2008-2012 and an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration on vaccine safety.
In 2021, he was a part of the FDA panel that rejected Joe Biden's plan to offer Pfizer booster jabs to Americans of all age groups, approving only their use in over 65s and those at risk of significant illness.
'I don't think a booster dose is going to significantly contribute to controlling the pandemic and I think it's important that the main message we transmit is that we've got to get everyone two doses,' he said at the time.
He has also expressed doubt over whether children should be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Dr James Pagano
Dr Pagano is a retired emergency medicine doctor from Los Angeles 'with over 40 years of clinical experience', and is a 'strong advocate for evidence-based medicine,' according to Mr Kennedy.
He has published two medical fiction books entitled The Bleed and The Drain. The latter is about 'money, medicine, miracles, and a doctor's pursuit of happiness in spite of all that,' according to a description on Amazon.
According to his author's biography, Dr Pagano is also an accomplished guitarist who has composed and recorded music for motion pictures.
The cover of his album 'Hopeless Romantic' depicts the doctor with a martini in one hand, with his arm around a guitar.
What does it mean for vaccination in the US?
Since 1964, the ACIP has deliberated on the use of new and existing vaccines and delivered their findings to the CDC, who subsequently implements their recommendations – although has the power to overrule them.
The group votes on key questions about jabs, for example who should receive Covid boosters or at what ages children should receive certain vaccinations.
All of the vaccines that are discussed already have to be approved by the FDA, although many health insurance companies – including Medicare, the federal insurance program for people aged 65 or older and younger people with disabilities – are required to pay for vaccinations in full if the ACIP recommends them.
The Vaccines for Children Program, another federal program which provides free vaccinations for kids whose parents cannot afford them, also covers the cost of immunisations recommended by the ACIP.
If the new board decides to stop recommending certain vaccinations, it is possible that insurance companies could stop funding them – meaning individuals would have to pay for the shots themselves.
The ACIP's next meeting is set for later this month. A previously released agenda said the committee would discuss vaccination against Covid, HPV, and lyme disease.
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