3 days ago
Vaccine sceptic RFK Jr disbands government advisory committee on immunisations
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US Health Secretary and a prominent vaccine sceptic, has dismissed all 17 members of a committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations.
In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Mr Kennedy claimed that 'retiring' the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) was necessary to help rebuild trust in vaccines and ensure 'unbiased' health recommendations.
'The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,' he said, adding that he wanted to 'ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible'.
The move – which some committee members found out about via the media – has been widely criticised by public health experts and scientists, who point to Mr Kennedy's long track record questioning the efficacy and safety of vaccines, sometimes based on dubious science.
'We have just watched politics bury science,' said Dr Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.
'If you look at [Kennedy's] accusation that he's doing this because of growing problems with vaccine trust – well, that's kind of like an arsonist complaining that so many houses are on fire,' Dr Osterholm said. 'He's the one that's been seeding these doubts for the last decade.'
Since he became the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mr Kennedy has taken a number of controversial decisions related to vaccines – including from bypassing ACIP to issue new Covid vaccine guidance, to stopping adverts for seasonal influenza shots and cancelling a $766 million contract with Moderna to develop a bird flu jab for humans.
Now, Mr Kennedy has claimed the ACIP needs a complete overhaul because members have too many conflicts of interest, and are immersed 'in a system of industry-aligned incentives and paradigms that enforce a narrow pro-industry orthodoxy'.
But his move appears to directly contradict promises given during his confirmation hearings. Bill Cassidy, a Republican Senator from Louisiana who is also a doctor, said he only voted for the appointment after Mr Kennedy committed to maintain ACIP 'without changes'.
'Of course, now the fear is that the Acip will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,' Mr Cassidy wrote on X on Monday. 'I've just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I'll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.'
In a statement, Dr Bruce A Scott, executive director of the American Public Health Association, added that Mr Kennedy's move would help drive an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases, at a time when vaccine coverage is declining across America.
'Today's action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives,' Dr Scott said.
'Rapid destruction' of critical oversight
The committee is attached to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and included 17 experts – including epidemiologists, infectious disease doctors, vaccine experts and paediatricians – who typically serve overlapping four-year terms. Eight of the members were appointed in January 2025.
But it has been in flux since Mr Kennedy assumed office, with its first meeting delayed by the department, before the Health Secretary announced new Covid-19 recommendations in a video posted on social media – unilaterally changing the guidance without an ACIP consultation.
Still, retiring all panellists – and deleting a webpage listing the members – has come as a shock to some. Dr Noel Brewer, a professor in public health at the University of North Carolina who was a member of the ACIP, told the Telegraph his removal was 'very unexpected,' given he was meant to serve for three more years.
He added that he heard about it only when 'received a copy of the Wall Street Journal article from a journalist', and later received an email confirming it at 5:48pm.
'The most immediate impact of this action is to destroy trust among healthcare providers in ACIP,' said Dr Brewer, a behavioural scientist who specialises in research about why people do or don't get vaccinated.
'The top priority right now is to restore trust in ACIP recommendations. If that is not possible, then it is time for medical organisations to create an alternative vaccine advisory committee for the nation.'
On this, there has already been some progress. Earlier this year, CIDRAP launched the Vaccine Integrity Project, which aims to facilitate conversations and offer advice about US vaccine policy – almost like a version of ACIP that's not aligned to the government.
'When I started the vaccine integrity project, there were a lot of doubters that anything of major consequence would happen… [especially after] Kennedy promised in his Senate hearings that he would not take vaccines away from anyone,' said Dr Osterholm. 'Well, look at all this change.
'We are watching the very rapid destruction of critically important vaccine evaluation oversight efforts of the US government, both at the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] and the CDC. These are committees that have performed marvellously well.'
He added: 'It's terribly significant. The real victims are the public, specifically young children, who are going to face a very different world of vaccine preventable diseases than even a decade ago… I don't know what happens next, but it doesn't bode well.'
