RFK Jr. Removes All 17 Members of CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel: WSJ
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In a major move to reshape U.S. vaccine policy, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday in The Wall Street Journal that he has ordered the complete removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), citing long-standing and deeply rooted conflicts of interest.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show 2,669,318 adverse events, including hospitalizations and deaths, have been linked to vaccines since 1990, but if fewer than 1% of adverse events are reported—as a 2010 HHS-funded Harvard analysis suggests—the real number could be closer to 267 million.
“We are taking a bold step in restoring public trust by totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP),” Kennedy wrote. “We are retiring the 17 current members of the committee, some of whom were last-minute appointees of the Biden administration.”
Kennedy emphasized that the goal is not to advance a pro- or anti-vaccine agenda, but to reestablish scientific integrity and public faith in health recommendations:
“That is why, under my direction, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is putting the restoration of public trust above any pro- or antivaccine agenda. The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies. This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible.”
He explained that keeping the current members in place would have left the newly elected administration unable to secure a majority of appointments until 2028.
The committee, he wrote, has become “little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” having “never recommended against a vaccine—even those later withdrawn for safety reasons.”
“It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women,” he continued. “To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust.”
RFK Jr. pointed to historical federal findings that reinforce his claims.
He cited a 2000 U.S. House investigation of ACIP and the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee:
“It found that enforcement of its conflict-of-interest rules was weak to nonexistent. Committee members regularly participated in deliberations and advocated products in which they had a financial stake.”
Kennedy recalled that “the CDC issued conflict-of-interest waivers to every committee member,” and that “four out of eight ACIP members who voted in 1997 on guidelines for the Rotashield vaccine, subsequently withdrawn because of severe adverse events, had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies developing other rotavirus vaccines.”
He added that a 2009 HHS inspector-general report “echoed these findings,” noting that “97% of [committee members] had omissions” on conflict-of-interest forms and that “the CDC took no significant action to remedy the omissions.”
As for the current panel:
“Most of ACIP’s members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines,” Kennedy said.
He clarified that his issue is less with individual intent and more with institutional entrenchment:
“The problem isn’t necessarily that ACIP members are corrupt. Most likely aim to serve the public interest as they understand it. The problem is their immersion in a system of industry-aligned incentives and paradigms that enforce a narrow pro-industry orthodoxy.”
The new committee, Kennedy promised, will be made up of individuals with no direct financial ties to the vaccine industry:
“They will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry—unafraid to ask hard questions.”
He closed with a sweeping vision of restoring the integrity once associated with America’s public health leadership:
“A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science. In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators, who had a reputation for integrity, scientific impartiality and zealous defense of patient welfare. Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back.”
The decision marks the first time in U.S. history that the entire ACIP has been removed at once.
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