RFK Jr.'s newest CDC vaccine panel includes critics of COVID shots, lockdowns
The Brief
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has replaced the government's vaccine advisory panel with eight new appointees.
The new members include vocal critics of COVID-19 vaccines and pandemic lockdowns, such as Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Martin Kulldorff.
Public health groups have raised concerns that Kennedy's changes could undermine long-standing vaccination policies.
NEW YORK - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week.
His selections include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, and a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns.
RELATED: RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine panel
Kennedy made the announcement in a social media post on Wednesday.
The backstory
Kennedy's decision to "retire" the previous 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors' groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy's desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations.
Dig deeper
The new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak.
Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he's promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19.
He has claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized into taking the COVID-19 shots. He's even suggested that those vaccines cause a form of AIDS. He's downplayed deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years.
Other appointees include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm. Dr. Cody Meissner, a former ACIP member, also was named.
Big picture view
The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations on how Food and Drug Administration-cleared vaccines should be used. The CDC's final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and determine the scope of vaccination programs.
The Source
The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story comes from a social media announcement made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday, in which he introduced eight new members to the federal vaccine advisory panel. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
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