RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee

STEVE BOTTARI JOINS US NOW WITH THAT. STEVE. YEAH, TOM, TO THE FACT CHECK IN A MOMENT. FIRST, WHY EXPERTS SAY THIS MATTERS SO MUCH. THEY SAY A LACK OF AN OFFICIAL RECOMMENDATION FROM THE CDC FOR CERTAIN GROUPS COULD MAKE IT HARDER FOR MOST KIDS OR PREGNANT WOMEN TO GET THE SHOT, ESPECIALLY IF INSURERS NOW DECIDE TO NO LONGER COVER IT. POLITIFACT’S CHIEF CORRESPONDENT LOU JACOBSON TELLS US HIS TEAM FOUND THAT THE DATA VARIES WHEN IT COMES TO THE TWO POPULATIONS MENTIONED IN THAT VIDEO YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT. SO FOR HEALTHY CHILDREN AND THE COVID VACCINES, JACOBSON SAYS THE CLAIMS MADE IN THE VIDEO ARE TRUE, THAT MOST OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE STOPPED RECOMMENDING ROUTINE VACCINATION AGAINST COVID. COUNTRIES LIKE THE UK ARE NOW MUCH MORE FOCUSED ON GROUPS AT HIGHER RISK FOR SERIOUS COMPLICATIONS THAN CHILDREN, AND THAT IS BECAUSE, JACOBSON SAYS, THE DATA SHOWS MOST KIDS WILL NOT BECOME SERIOUSLY SICK FROM COVID, THOUGH OTHER EXPERTS NOTED THE RISK OF LONG COVID STILL NEEDS TO BE FACTORED IN. HOWEVER, WHEN IT CAME TO KENNEDY’S CLAIM IN THE VIDEO THAT PREGNANT WOMEN SHOULDN’T GET THE COVID VACCINE, THAT HE SAYS IS A DIFFERENT STORY. THIS MAY BE THE AREA WHERE WE SAW THE LARGEST SPLIT BETWEEN KENNEDY AND THE SCIENTISTS. WE WE SPOKE TO, SCIENTISTS SAY THERE ARE GOOD PROTECTIONS FOR BOTH THE MOTHER AND THE FETUS IF THEY GET VACCINATED FOR COVID, AND THERE IS NO SIGN THAT THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS. A REVIEW OF 67 STUDIES THAT PUBLISHED LAST YEAR FOUND THAT FULLY VACCINATED PREGNANT WOMEN HAD A 61% LOWER LIKELIHOOD OF GETTING COVID 19 INFECTIONS. SO THE FEDERAL ADVISORY PANEL MEETS NEXT MONTH. THERE ARE SIGNS IT’S GOING TO MOVE TOWARD THIS LESS SWEEPING RECOMMENDATION THAT KENNEDY WANTS, THOUGH THEY MAY ADD IN MORE FLEXIBILITY, IT SEEMS, THAN KENNEDY IS RECOMMENDING. FOR INSTANCE, THEY COULD SPECIFY THAT PEOPLE SHOULD GET THE VACCINE IF THEY’RE CAREGIVERS FOR OR MAYBE SHARE LIVIN

Updated: 6:05 PM CDT Jun 9, 2025

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RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee

Updated: 6:05 PM CDT Jun 9, 2025

Editorial Standards ⓘ

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines and pledged to replace them with his own picks.Major physicians and public health groups criticized the move to oust all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.Kennedy, who was one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists before becoming the nation’s top health official, has not said who he would appoint to the panel, but said it would convene in just two weeks in Atlanta.Although it’s typically not viewed as a partisan board, the Biden administration had installed the entire committee.“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”Kennedy said the committee members had too many conflicts of interest. Currently, committee members are required to declare any potential such conflicts, as well as business interests, that arise during their tenure. They also must disclose any possible conflicts at the start of each public meeting.Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Kennedy's actions were based on false conflict-of-interest claims and set “a dangerous and unprecedented action that makes our families less safe” by potentially reducing vaccine access for millions of people.“Make no mistake: Politicizing the ACIP as Secretary Kennedy is doing will undermine public trust under the guise of improving it,” he said in a statement. “We’ll look back at this as a grave mistake that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor, undermined public trust, and opened the door for fringe theories rather than facts.”Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, called Kennedy's mass ouster "a coup.”“It’s not how democracies work. It’s not good for the health of the nation,” Benjamin told The Associated Press.Benjamin said the move raises real concerns about whether future committee members will be viewed as impartial. He added that Kennedy is going against what he told lawmakers and the public, and the public health association plans to watch Kennedy “like a hawk."“He is breaking a promise,” Benjamin said. “He said he wasn’t going to do this."Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, called the committee a trusted source of science- and data-driven advice and said Kennedy’s move, coupled with declining vaccination rates across the country, will help drive an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases.“Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives,” Scott said in a statement.Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor who had expressed reservations about Kennedy’s nomination but voted to install him as the nation’s health secretary nonetheless, said he had spoken with Kennedy moments after the announcement.“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said in a social media post. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”The committee had been in a state of flux since Kennedy took over. Its first meeting this year had been delayed when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abruptly postponed its February meeting.During Kennedy’s confirmation, Cassidy had expressed concerns about preserving the committee, saying he had sought assurances that Kennedy would keep the panel's current vaccine recommendations.Kennedy did not stick to that. He recently took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the advisers.The webpage that featured the committee’s members was deleted Monday evening, shortly after Kennedy’s announcement.___Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed from Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON —

Major physicians and public health groups criticized the move to oust all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Kennedy, who was one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists before becoming the nation’s top health official, has not said who he would appoint to the panel, but said it would convene in just two weeks in Atlanta.

Although it’s typically not viewed as a partisan board, the Biden administration had installed the entire committee.

“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy wrote in . “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”

Kennedy said the committee members had too many conflicts of interest. Currently, committee members are required to declare any potential such conflicts, as well as business interests, that arise during their tenure. They also must disclose any possible conflicts at the start of each public meeting.

Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Kennedy's actions were based on false conflict-of-interest claims and set “a dangerous and unprecedented action that makes our families less safe” by potentially reducing vaccine access for millions of people.

“Make no mistake: Politicizing the ACIP as Secretary Kennedy is doing will undermine public trust under the guise of improving it,” he said in a statement. “We’ll look back at this as a grave mistake that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor, undermined public trust, and opened the door for fringe theories rather than facts.”

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, called Kennedy's mass ouster "a coup.”

“It’s not how democracies work. It’s not good for the health of the nation,” Benjamin told The Associated Press.

Benjamin said the move raises real concerns about whether future committee members will be viewed as impartial. He added that Kennedy is going against what he told lawmakers and the public, and the public health association plans to watch Kennedy “like a hawk."

“He is breaking a promise,” Benjamin said. “He said he wasn’t going to do this."

Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, called the committee a trusted source of science- and data-driven advice and said Kennedy’s move, coupled with declining vaccination rates across the country, will help drive an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases.

“Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives,” Scott said in a statement.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor who had expressed reservations about Kennedy’s nomination but voted to install him as the nation’s health secretary nonetheless, said he had spoken with Kennedy moments after the announcement.

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said in a social media post. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”

The committee had been in a state of flux since Kennedy took over. Its first meeting this year had been delayed when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abruptly postponed its February meeting.

During Kennedy’s confirmation, Cassidy had expressed concerns about preserving the committee, saying he had sought assurances that Kennedy would keep the panel's current vaccine recommendations.

Kennedy did not stick to that. He recently took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the advisers.

The webpage that featured the committee’s members was deleted Monday evening, shortly after Kennedy’s announcement.

___

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed from Washington, D.C.

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