HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed eight new members to the CDC panel that oversees vaccine recommendations on June 11. The announcement follows the termination of all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) two days prior.

Mr.Kennedy stated that the restructuring aims to restore public trust in vaccine science and ensure members are free of conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies. However, numerous industry groups have criticized the move, suggesting it could undermine vaccine confidence and threaten public health.

“The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts and some of America’s most accomplished physicians,” Mr. Kennedy wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.”all of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”

Reports indicate that several new committee members have previously shared anti-vaccine rhetoric or made unsubstantiated claims about vaccines.

While it remains unclear if Mr. Kennedy intends to appoint additional members, the committee has typically consisted of at least 15 individuals in past years. Terminated ACIP members have expressed concerns about the expedited vetting and training process for the new appointees.

The new appointments precede a committee meeting scheduled for June 25, where members are expected to review immunization recommendations and schedules for various vaccinations, including COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and HPV, according to documents published in the federal register. Former ACIP members have noted that preparing for such meetings typically requires at least three weeks, raising concerns about the preparedness of the new members.

New ACIP Members

“The slate includes highly credentialed scientists…committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”

The eight new members of ACIP are:

• Joseph Hibbeln, MD, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who served as acting chief of the section on nutritional neurosciences at the National Institutes of Health from 2007 to 2021.
• Martin Kulldorff, MD, PhD, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who formerly served as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
• Retsef Levi, PhD, a professor of operations management at the MIT sloan School of Management.
• Robert Malone, MD, a physician-scientist and biochemist.While he has touted his involvement in inventing mRNA vaccine technology, reports suggest his role in developing the technology was minimal.
• Cody Meissner, MD, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine.
• James Pagano, MD, a board-certified emergency medicine physician based in California.
• Vicky Pebsworth, PhD, RN, a nurse leader and board member of the National Vaccine Information Center – one of the nation’s oldest anti-vaccine groups.
• Michael Ross,MD,a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University.