The nation's top public health authority, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has just made a decision on vaccines that is sending shockwaves through Washington D.C.
In one fell swoop, Kennedy has fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
While announcing the move, Kennedy repeated his familiar criticism that vaccine guidance has been compromised by industry-backed science.
"A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science," Kennedy said in a statement.
"ACIP's new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas."
Kennedy was narrowly confirmed to his Cabinet position by the Senate, overcoming skepticism of his critical comments on vaccines. He downplayed his anti-vaccine views at the time, although he never actually recanted them.
Since becoming the nation's top public health official, Kennedy has taken a series of moves to "make America healthy again," targeting ingredients in the food supply and bringing vaccines under closer scrutiny.
Kennedy's critics see his latest move as a public health coup that will introduce anti-vaccine policy at the CDC's influential committee.
The impacts of Kennedy's move could be far-reaching, since most doctors follow ACIP's recommendations, which also influence which shots get covered by insurance. Critics of Kennedy's move say it will lower vaccination rates, resulting in a rise in preventable disease.
Some vaccines "won't be recommended at all" and other some shots could "no longer be reimbursable by insurance companies", said Peter Lurie, a former FDA official.
"As a consequence, we will see still further declines in vaccination rates, and then a resurgence of the diseases that they could have prevented," he said.
Defending the move, Kennedy pointed out that all 17 members of ACIP were appointed by the Biden administration, which has faced criticism for politicizing the COVID vaccine. A recent Senate report found that the CDC waited months to alert the public to myocarditis risks as the Biden administration was pressuring the nation to get the shot.
Kennedy said that not removing the current ACIP members would leave the Trump administration unable to appoint a new majority 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 wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
So far, Kennedy has largely kept his pledge to not limit access to vaccines, but the CDC recently removed the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and pregnant women."
Republican senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), one of the key senators who had to be persuaded to confirm Kennedy, said he is watching the nix developments carefully.
“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said in a social media post. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
