Report: RFK Jr. Planning to Remove Advisors on Vaccine Committee

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to be planning major changes to the way his department oversees vaccines, media outlets are reporting.

Kennedy is planning to remove several members of CDC’s vaccine advisory committee due to what he sees as conflicts of interest, Politico reported. The secretary has previously said that he is concerned about the drug industry’s relationship with regulators. The process of reviewing committee members has just started, and there is no firm timeline for the removals, nor is it known how many people will be removed, sources said.

ACIP Meeting Postponed

The key committee involved in overseeing vaccine use is the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). That committee was scheduled to have a meeting next week, but that meeting has been postponed and no new date has been announced. The postponement triggered a letter signed by the American Medical Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (DSA), and several other medical groups urging the Trump administration to reschedule the meeting.

“ACIP had a full agenda of critical, vaccine-related decisions, including discussion linked to deadly illnesses like meningococcal disease,” said the letter, which was addressed to Kennedy as well as the acting CDC director, Susan Monarez, PhD, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), chair of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

The letter noted that the online portal for public comments — which is usually made available prior to ACIP meetings — was not available for this one. “Rescheduling this critical meeting and reconciling the absent portal for public remarks would represent a meaningful early follow-through from the Trump administration and its new HHS secretary to ensure Americans receive the information needed to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable illnesses,” the letter concluded.

In particular, delaying the meeting “delays vital discussions and needed decisions on a variety of vaccines by trusted and well-vetted experts,” IDSA President Tina Tan, MD, said in an email to MedPage Today. “ACIP relies on a well-established, transparent, and evidence-based process for evaluating the optimal use of vaccines that play a critical role in strengthening public health.”

Concerns About Kennedy’s Actions

The possibility that Kennedy might remove some of the members of ACIP has Georges Benjamin, MD, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, “very worried.”

“This is one of the reasons we opposed him — we knew he was lying when he said he was not going to touch this group in particular,” Benjamin said in a phone interview. He added that although it’s not uncommon for administrations to change members of these committees and he “doesn’t want to overstate” his concerns, Kennedy “has views we don’t trust on conflict of interest.”

Committee members are “thoroughly vetted for conflict and balanced in terms of views,” Benjamin said. And contrary to Kennedy’s assertion that the committees aren’t properly constructed, “they are properly constructed — while you might change the people [on them], I don’t know how you can not have people with a similar kind of mix.”

ACIP members include several academics, a chief medical officer of a community health center, a state public health higher-up, and the owner of a family medicine practice. One committee member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said they were informed of the meeting’s postponement from news reports, according to Politico.

On Wednesday, President Trump issued an executive order that required “the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy [to] identify and submit to the president additional unnecessary governmental entities and federal advisory committees that should be terminated on grounds that they are unnecessary.” Because ACIP is a federal advisory committee, it would be one of the committees under review.

Kennedy’s views on vaccines were a subject of controversy during his Jan. 29 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. “Committee staff have examined thousands of pages of statements, books, and podcast transcripts in a review of his record, and the receipts show that Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, and charlatans, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

“Mr. Kennedy is fond of saying he’s not making recommendations about whether parents should vaccinate their children — he’s just asking questions and giving people choices,” Wyden added. “It’s a slippery tactic to dodge any real responsibility for his words and actions, and it is, in my view, absurd, coming from somebody who’s trying to win confirmation for a job that is entirely about making recommendations.”

Kennedy tried to lay to rest concerns that he was anti-vaccine. “I believe that vaccines play a critical role in healthcare,” he said. “All of my kids are vaccinated. I’ve written many books on vaccines. My first book in 2014, the first line of it is, ‘I am not anti-vaccine,’ and the last line is, ‘I am not anti-vaccine.'”

Ceasing of Some Vaccine Campaigns Ordered

The plan to remove advisors may conflict with a number of promises Kennedy made to Cassidy that cinched Cassidy’s “Yes” vote on Kennedy’s confirmation. Most of the pledges revolved around vaccines, including that Kennedy will work within current approval and safety monitoring systems, and not establish parallel systems. Kennedy also told Cassidy he would maintain recommendations from ACIP without changes, and said that statements that vaccines don’t cause autism won’t be removed from the CDC website.

In addition to those promises, Kennedy “committed that the [HELP Committee chair] may choose a representative on any board or commission formed to review vaccine safety,” Cassidy said in remarks on the Senate floor on Feb. 4th. “If he is confirmed, HHS will provide 30-day notice to the HELP Committee if the agency seeks to make changes to any of our federal vaccine safety monitoring programs, and the HELP Committee will have the option to call a hearing for further review.”

“I will use my authority as HELP Committee chair to rebuff any attempt to remove the public’s access to lifesaving vaccines without ironclad causational scientific evidence that can be accepted and defended before the mainstream scientific community and before Congress,” Cassidy added. “I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote. But my support is built on assurances that this will not have to be a concern.”

News of Kennedy’s possible plans for advisory committees came as the CDC was told to stop some of its promotional campaigns for vaccines, including its “Wild to Mild” flu vaccination campaign, STAT reported. An HHS official told the CDC that Kennedy wanted advertisements that promote the idea of “informed consent” in vaccine decision-making instead, according to the story. A search for “Wild to Mild” on the CDC website turned up a 2023 press release announcing the campaign but little else.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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