Why RFK Jr. Removed The Entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee? Who Will Replace Them?

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday dismissed all 17 members of the CDC 's Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, a key panel that advised how to use vaccines. He further announced plans to replace them with his own picks. The decision drew sharp criticism from leading medical associations and public health organisations.

Though Kennedy hasn't revealed who will replace the ousted panel members, he said the new group will meet in Atlanta in two weeks. Although it's typically not viewed as a partisan board, the entire current roster of committee members were Biden appointees.

The removal of all 17 experts of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was revealed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and an official press release.

Why RFK removed the panel?

In his op-ed, Kennedy claimed the panel was "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest" and had become "little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine."

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“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."

Meanwhile, in a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services, he said,“Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda.”

"The public must know that unbiased science -- evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest - guides the recommendations of our health agencies."

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Before becoming the nation's top health official, Kennedy was a prominent anti-vaccine activist. Kennedy, who has spent two decades promoting vaccine misinformation, cast the move as essential to restoring public trust , claiming the committee had been compromised by financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.

(With inputs from Wall Street Journal, AP and AFP)

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