Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious diseases doctor and associate professor at Stanford Medicine, is slamming President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., after Kennedy fired all 17 members of a CDC advisory committee (ACIP) that reviews vaccines and replaced them with eight new members.
[Note: Kennedy promised not to pick “anti-vaxxers” but some public health doctors accused him of breaking his word. One of the new members is Dr. Retsef Levi, who has warned against mRNA vaccines.]
Dr. Scott wrote on X: “RFK Jr. went on national TV and spouted egregious, dangerous falsehoods about vaccines. As a parent and infectious diseases doctor, I couldn’t stay silent. @FoxNews might not fact-check him, but I will. I’ve reviewed the trials. I’ve catalogued them. I have receipts.”
RFK Jr. went on national TV and spouted egregious, dangerous falsehoods about vaccines. As a parent and infectious diseases doctor, I couldn’t stay silent. @FoxNews might not fact-check him, but I will. I’ve reviewed the trials. I’ve catalogued them. I have receipts.
https://t.co/la6VmJk4Ww
— Jake Scott, MD (@jakescottMD) June 13, 2025
Scott called out Kennedy (who is a lawyer not a doctor) on many of his claims including that “97% of people on [ACIP] had conflicts of interest.”
Scott responded: “REALITY: Only 41% received any industry payments, mostly under $55k over 6 years This is flatly false. Reuters reviewed all 17 voting members of the outgoing ACIP panel: 6 received $80 or less TOTAL over 6 years. 7 received between $4k-$55k total over 6 years (mostly travel, meals, occasional consulting). 4 had no reported industry payments at all. That’s 7/17 = 41%. Not 97%. CDC rules require recusal for any vote tied to a relevant conflict. Meeting minutes show ONE recusal in the reviewed period. ACIP members are unpaid volunteer experts. They don’t get royalties, don’t keep pharma stock, don’t get flown to golf courses. A published review found <5% of ACIP votes over the past decade involved a declared conflict.”
Kennedy also told Fox News “The only vaccine that has gone through placebo-controlled trials was the Covid vaccine.”
Scott replied: “REALITY: One of the most misleading claims I’ve ever seen a government official make on national television. EVERY childhood vaccine has been tested in placebo-controlled trials. As of 6/12/25, our open-access dataset includes: 274 controlled vaccine trials (1944-2025) 3 million total participants 164 placebo-controlled trials 133 used inert placebo (no antigen, no alum).”
Scott added: “Here’s proof – EVERY routine childhood vaccine antigen has been studied with a placebo of some sort: Polio (Salk 1954): Saline-controlled, 400k+ kids (PMID: 14376387) Rotavirus: 12 inert-placebo RCTs including REST trial (~70k kids) (PMID: 16394299) Hib + Diphtheria: Saline-controlled RCT (PMID: 3497990) Tetanus: Distilled water-controlled trial (PMID: 381074) Pertussis: Two no-intervention RCTs (PMIDs: 18015552, DOI: 10.2307/4583816) Pneumococcal: Multiple saline-controlled trials (PMIDs: 19483514, 15794968) MMR: 1975 trial with antigen-free diluent (PMID: 764997) HPV: Adolescent saline-controlled RCT (PMID: 17484215) Hep B: Two alum-controlled trials in newborns (PMIDs: 3903646, 6143868) Yes, even diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and varicella have been studied in placebo-controlled trials.”
Scott, who in a separate post notes that he has “zero financial conflicts of interest,” continued what he presents as a public service announcement, writing:
“THE BOTTOM LINE: RFK Jr. went on national television and systematically misled millions of Americans with false claims about vaccines. But the real evidence is available. The studies exist. The safety data is public. Why this matters: I’ve seen many people die from vaccine-preventable diseases and it is truly the most awful thing I’ve witnessed. Don’t be misled. The health and well-being of our children and all of us depends on these vaccines.”