Health and Human Service 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 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-vaccination activists before becoming the nation’s top health official, has not said who he would appoint to the panel, but he 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. “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science. ”
Kennedy, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, said the committee members had too many conflicts of interest. Committee members routinely disclose any possible conflicts at the start of public meetings.
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.
The committee had been in a state of flux since Kennedy took over. Its first meeting this year was delayed when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abruptly postponed its February meeting.
Kennedy recently took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the panel.
The webpage that featured the committee’s members was deleted Monday evening, shortly after Kennedy’s announcement.