RFK Jr. Boots All members of the CDC’s Vaccin Advisory Committee

Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Removes all 17 members of an important advisory committee that helps to create vaccine policy and recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kennedy made the announcement on Monday afternoon in a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services and an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal.

In his role as head of HHS, Kennedy has the legal authority to replace members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), but the decision to delete the entire committee flies in the light of the precedent and has alerted public health and medical institution.

“A clean sweep is necessary to restore the trust of the public in vaccine science,” said Kennedy in a statement, “ACIP new members will give priority to public health and evidence-based medicine. The committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for profitable agendas in industry.”

Medical groups quickly made statements that denounce the move.

The American Medical Association said that Kennedy’s decision undermines that “a transparent process trusts and increases that countless lives have saved.” The president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America called the statement about the integrity of the committee ‘completely unfounded’.

Kennedy has previously claimed that ACIP members have serious conflicts of interest.

As NPR reported“ A government report that he has cited to support that shows that they do not. Moreover, committee members are obliged to announce whether they have conflicts of interest before they cast a vote and take themselves back if they have one.

Previous members of ACIP warn that the disintegration of the current committee will remove an important control over changes in the approach to the administration in the vaccine policy.

Dr. Jonathan TemteThose who served as chairman from 2012 to 2015, NPR said that “Acip all over the world is the model of solid, well thought out, evidence-based vaccine policy.”

“I hate to say this, but we are heading in the direction of the American vaccine policy and are becoming the smiling stock of the world,” said Temte, a professor in general practitioner medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

Given the history of Kennedy about leading an anti-vaccine interest group, public health experts and members of the congress have been worried about what could happen to the committee under Kennedy’s Watch.

Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor and Republican who represents Louisiana, brought a critical mood to promote the nomination of Kennedy and said he had the guarantees that Kennedy would maintain the recommendations of ACIP “without changes”.

It is not yet clear who will tap Kennedy to fill the now vacant seats in the committee, although he said that new members are already being taken into consideration.

The External experts Make recommendations for the vaccine schedule of the Bureau for Children and Adults and help determine which vaccines are covered by a health insurance policy and the Vaccins for Children program.

ACIP will convene its next meeting on 25 June on CDC head office.