Vaccine sceptic doctor among RFK Jr's new appointees for immunisation committee
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed a new vaccine advisory panel, including a medical doctor who has claimed that Covid vaccines 'may damage [children's] brains, their heart, their immune system, and their ability to have children in the future.'
The move comes just two days after the US health secretary unprecedentedly dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the body responsible for advising on vaccine recommendations to prevent and control diseases.
Of the eight new members, four have actively spoken out against vaccination in some form.
The most controversial pick is Dr Robert Malone, a prominent opponent of mRNA vaccines who also falsely claims to have invented the technology. While Dr Malone was involved in some of the early research on mRNA, his role was minimal at best, say experts.
Dr Malone has previously stated that mass vaccination programs during the pandemic were enabled by 'mass formation psychosis,' an unrecognised medical term he coined, which he says also explains how Nazi Germany carried out the Holocaust.
He was temporarily banned from X (formerly Twitter) for spreading misinformation about Covid-19, including claims that mRNA vaccines are experimental gene therapy that could cause irreparable harm, particularly to children.
Also on the panel is Dr Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard Medical School professor who was dismissed from his position in 2024.
Dr Kulldorff was a key figure in the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter published in 2020 that opposed widespread lockdowns and was widely criticised by experts as dangerous and anti-scientific.
Of the panel, which includes Joseph Hibbeln, Retsef Levi, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael Rossm, four who have previously worked on committees associated with either the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the Food and Drug Administration.
'All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' Mr Kennedy said in a post on X.
It's not clear what process these figures went through, but it typically takes more than a year to be appointed to a federal advisory panel.
Dr Noel Brewer, a professor in public health at the University of North Carolina who was a member of the ACIP, said it typically takes more than a year to be appointed as a member of a federal advisory panel – and that he went through a 1.5 year process to serve on ACIP.
'You apply by writing an essay,' he told the Telegraph. 'Once you're approved, you fill out maybe 20 or 30 forms. You disclose all of your financial stakes in companies and all sources of income. Then you get ethics training.'
The health secretary added that the panel would attend a CDC meeting on June 25, where advisors are expected to deliberate and vote on who should receive a number of vaccines, including the flu shot, Covid-19 boosters, and vaccines for RSV, HPV, and meningococcal disease.
Dr Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said: 'Kennedy is leading a MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] pseudoscience agenda, mostly as an economic stimulus for a very corrupt wellness/influencer industry'.
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