Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all 17 members of the Vaccine Advisory Committee, tasked with advising the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on vaccine safety. “Today, we are taking a bold step in restoring public trust by totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” he tweeted.
RFK Jr. said their removal paves the way for their replacement with non-activist members who are neither pro- nor anti-vaccine. “Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” Kennedy said in a statement. “The public must know that unbiased science — evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest — guides the recommendations of our health agencies.”
In the previous administration, some influential liberal activists without medical or scientific credentials heavily influenced the health policies. Under Biden, the President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, was reportedly granted “uncommon access” to the CDC’s schools reopening guidance, resulting in its alteration and extension of closures.
Today, we are taking a bold step in restoring public trust by totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) June 9, 2025
The entire world once looked to American health… pic.twitter.com/hTo7xV4Pke
Meanwhile, the HHS Secretary said new appointees would “prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine” and no longer function as “a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas.” He lamented how American health regulators had lost credibility due to political partisanship. “The entire world once looked to American health regulators for guidance, inspiration, scientific impartiality, and unimpeachable integrity. Public trust has eroded. Only through radical transparency and gold standard science, will we earn it back.”
