President Donald Trump’s U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced today via an op-ed in the The Wall Street that he has executed a “clean sweep” of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Kennedy said he is “reconstituting” the committee “to avoid conflicts of interest.”
The New York Times reports that the 17 members of the committee were responsible for reviewing data on vaccines, debating the evidence and voting on who should get the shots and when.
When U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is a physician, spoke on the Senate floor in support of Kennedy as HHS Secretary, he said of the nominee: “If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.”
When announcing his support for RFK, Sen. Bill Cassidy said Kennedy had told him he would maintain the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee without changes.
(Quote below).Reacting to Kennedy removing the committee’s members today Cassidy writes… pic.twitter.com/NCN6ZXpKnd
— Reuben Jones (@ReubenJones1) June 9, 2025
Today, Cassidy responded to Kennedy’s decision to breakup the Committee on X by writing: “Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.https://t.co/iXjTDieAwY
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) June 9, 2025
Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease pediatrician, wrote: “RFK Jr. will likely do everything he can to make vaccines less available, less affordable, and more feared. To believe otherwise, is to ignore everything he has said and done for the past 20 years.”