US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, sacked all 17 members of the committee that makes official government recommendations on immunization.
Kennedy announced the decision in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that conflicts of interest on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) were to blame for losing trust in vaccines.
Kennedy stated that he wants to “ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible.”
Doctors and health professionals have attacked Kennedy’s deep concerns about the efficacy and safety of a number of vaccines, despite the fact that he emphasized during his Senate confirmation hearing that he is “not going to take them away.”
On Monday, he announced that he was “retiring” all ACIP panel members. 8 of the 17 panellists emerged in January 2025, during the final days of President Biden’s administration.
The majority of members are practicing doctors and professionals affiliated with major university medical facilities.
Kennedy stated that if he had not removed the committee members, President Trump would not have been able to select a majority of the panel until 2028.
“The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” Kennedy reported in an email.
He stated that health authorities and drug companies were primarily responsible for a “crisis of public trust” that some tried to explain “by blaming misinformation or antiscience attitudes”.
In the editorial, Kennedy referenced examples from the 1990s and 2000s to argue that conflicts of interest still exist.
“Most of ACIP’s members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines,” he stated in the Wall Street Journal.
The act appears to contradict Kennedy’s pledges during his confirmation hearings. Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana and a doctor, stated that he obtained assurances from the health secretary that ACIP will be kept “without changes”.
On Monday, Cassidy commented on X: “Of course, now the danger is that the ACIP will be packed with individuals who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.
“I have just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
ACIP members are required to disclose conflicts of interest, which are officially posted, and to exclude themselves from voting on matters in which they may have a conflict.
“The problem isn’t necessarily that ACIP members are corrupt,” according to Kennedy. “Most likely intend to serve the public interest, as they perceive it.”
“The problem is their immersion in a system of industry-aligned incentives and paradigms that enforce a narrow pro-industry orthodoxy.”
Dr. Bruce Scott, president of the American Medical Association, a professional body representing American doctors, stated that mass dismissal “destroys a transparent process that has saved countless lives.”
“With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses,” according to a statement from Dr. Scott.
Kennedy did not specify who he planned on choosing to replace the board members. ACIP will have a meeting beginning on June 25 to decide on vaccine recommendations for Covid, flu, meningococcal disease, RSV, and other illnesses.
The BBC contacted the US Department of Health and Human Services and Dr Helen Keipp Talbot, the chair of ACIP, for comment.
