• Posted June 10, 2025

RFK Jr. Removes Entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel

TUESDAY, June 10, 2025 (HealthDay News) — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed all 17 members of the expert panel that makes U.S. vaccine recommendations.

Kennedy made the surprise announcement in an opinion piece published June 8 in The Wall Street Journal. He said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, has been “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest” and called it a “rubber stamp” for new vaccines.

The panel gives advice to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

When its vaccine recommendations are approved by the CDC director, they become official public health guidance and must be covered by health insurance with no out-of-pocket costs, The Washington Post reported.

ACIP meets in public several times each year. Members are required to share any conflicts of interest before each meeting.

This move appears to break a promise Kennedy made earlier this year. During his confirmation process, he told Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that he would “maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.” 

Cassidy shared this detail in a speech on the Senate floor when explaining why he ultimately voted to confirm Kennedy in February.

Cassidy, who is a physician and leads the Senate health committee, had expressed concerns about Kennedy’s views on vaccines.

This isn’t the first time Kennedy has acted without considering input from the vaccine advisory panel. In May, he unilaterally announced that his agency would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. 

That decision went against current CDC guidelines and was not shared with the agency ahead of time. The CDC found out only after the news was posted on social media, according to federal health officials.

Kennedy, who once led an anti-vaccine group, has been a longtime critic of vaccines. Public health experts are concerned how his views may reshape the nation's health policy.

“You have to worry that he may be bringing in people who are like-minded to him,” Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a former member of the panel, told The Post. 

“He just makes these decisions by himself, without any input from advisory committees or experts or professional societies," Offit added. "He is just is running roughshod over public health.”

More information

Learn more about the role of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: The Washington Post, June 9, 2025