Flames of criticism regarding Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have been smoldering for the past few weeks. However, the Health and Human Services secretary is now at the center of a firestorm.
Yesterday, Kennedy gutted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) independent vaccine advisory committee.
The action was announced first in a Wall Street Journal commentary, then in a news release.
Kennedy said he was ousting all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). He will replace them with new members currently under consideration, according to the HHS.
Clean Sweep
“The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” Kennedy wrote in the Journal.
The ACIP determines the effectiveness, safety, and need for vaccines. Its recommendations are then forwarded to the CDC. Committee members serve four-year terms. Most of the 17 members who were terminated had only been in place for a year.
“A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” said Kennedy. “ACIP’s new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas. 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.”
Concerns About Kennedy
Kennedy was an outspoken opponent of vaccines prior to being nominated to head HHS.
That opposition raised concerns about his nomination. Among those with concerns was Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA). He spent 30 years treating patients “in a public hospital for the uninsured.”
Cassidy spoke about his support for vaccines on the Senate floor while he spoke in support of Kennedy’s nomination in February. That speech is preserved on YouTube.
“After seeing patients die from vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Cassidy, “I dedicated much of my time to vaccine research and immunization programs. Personally witnessing the safety monitoring and the effectiveness of immunization. But simply, vaccines save lives.”
Promises Made
Cassidy said his concerns about how Kennedy would handle vaccine policy were eliminated by promises from Kennedy and the Trump administration.
“He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, and not establish parallel systems,” said Cassidy. “If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.
“If he is confirmed, HHS will provide a 30-day notice to the HELP Committee if the agency seeks to make changes to any of our federal vaccine safety monitoring programs, and HELP Committee will have the option to call a hearing to further review.”
No Rebuke From Cassidy
Cassidy took to social media after Kennedy’s announcement, but did not criticize the secretary. Instead, he sought to calm fears, as he did when Kennedy was nominated.
“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy posted on X. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
Undermines Trust – AMA
Coincidentally, the American Medical Association (AMA) is in the midst of its annual meeting in Chicago, IL. Dr. Bruce A. Scott, MD, reacted to Kennedy’s action.
“For generations, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been a trusted national source of science- and data-driven advice and guidance on the use of vaccines to prevent and control disease,” said Scott. “Physicians, parents, community leaders, and public health officials rely on them for clinical guidance, public health information, and knowledge. Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives. With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
Imposing an Anti-Vaccination Agenda
“Secretary Kennedy’s decision to fire without cause every member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) should erase any remaining doubt that he intends to impose his personal anti-vaccine agenda on the American people,” Rich Besser, M. D. and president of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation wrote on Linkedin.
“As a pediatrician for more than 30 years, I relied on ACIP’s guidance to help inform my vaccine recommendations to the families in my care,” stated Besser. “This decision will make it far more difficult for pediatricians and other providers to care for their patients. . .
“Nobody has done more than Secretary Kennedy to sow unwarranted doubt about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and this decision demonstrates a complete lack of caring about the health and safety of every American.”
Families and Children Will Pay The Price
“This unprecedented action, against the backdrop of contradictory announcements from the Administration in recent days about vaccines, will cause even more confusion and uncertainty for families,” read a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
“We are witnessing an escalating effort by the Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in life saving vaccines,” according to the AAP. “Creating confusion around proven vaccines endangers families’ health and contributes to the spread of preventable diseases. . .
“Our vaccine infrastructure must include this critical step of nonpartisan, expert review and discussion of the science and clinical recommendations for individual vaccines. Families and children will be the ones to pay the price for this decision.”
Growing Call For Kennedy to Resign Or Be Fired
Kennedy’s action led to renewed calls for him to step down or be fired.
“Americans deserve better than someone who is trying to impose his unscientific and judgmental view of public health and science,” said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, MD, and executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA). “We deserve better than RFK, Jr. He demonstrated his incompetence in only a few weeks.
“As a physician, I pledged to first do no harm and to speak up when I see harm being done by others. I ask my colleagues to join me and speak up. Secretary Robert Kennedy is a danger to the public’s health and should resign or be fired.”
Sentiment Growing Before ACIP Move
Kennedy cancelled a meeting of the ACIP in February and later rescheduled it for late June. That raised fears by leaders in the medical community that the committee might be in Kennedy’s crosshairs.
Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, co-leader of the ACIP resigned May 29 after Kennedy changed CDC recommendations on COVID vaccines without the committee’s input.
In an email to co-workers obtained by Reuters, Panagiotakopoulos wrote:
“My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role.”
Benjamin initially called for Kennedy to resign or be fired in April. By May, he was joined by Dr. Paul Offit, MD, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
In a public letter to Cassidy, Offit wrote:
“If RFK Jr. is successful in his quest to place unnecessary burdens on vaccine manufacture and testing, I have no doubt that vaccines will soon be either unaffordable or unavailable.”
A policy change was announced on May 20. It requires additional testing before COVID boosters will be available for healthy people between six months and 65. That change could increase costs.
MAHA Fabrications
Calls for Kennedy’s dismissal increased last month when he unveiled his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) report. Included in that report, which Kennedy said relied on “gold standard” science, were references to over 500 studies.
However, a review by Notus found that “Those citations, though, are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions.”
In addition, seven of the sources for the report “don’t appear to exist at all,” according to Notus.
Following the revelations about the MAHA errors, two social media commentators joined the call for Kennedy to go.
“These citations were literally fabricated from thin air, apparently generated by AI tools without any verification by Kennedy’s team,” wrote Morgan McSweeney, PhD, known as Dr. Noc.
“Our health agencies cannot be led by someone who repeatedly denies the very science they’re charged to uphold,” said Dr. Mike Varshavski, DO. “Secretary Kennedy’s long record of spreading vaccine falsehoods and undermining proven public health measures makes him a clear threat to millions of Americans who rely on accurate guidance.”
Notably, the nation is experiencing an increase in illnesses that are preventable with vaccines. Measles and whooping cough have been on the rise for months. Since last fall, 241 mostly unvaccinated children have died of flu-related illnesses. That is the highest amount for a non-pandemic season since 2004.
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Max K. Erkiletian began writing for newspapers while still in high school. He went on to become an award-winning journalist and co-founder of the print magazine Free Bird. He has written for a wide range of regional and national publications as well as many on-line publications. That has afforded him the opportunity to interview a variety of prominent figures from former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Paul Volker to Blues musicians Muddy Waters and B. B. King. Max lives in Springfield, MO with his wife Karen and their cat – Pudge. He spends as much time as possible with his kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
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