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.”
The HHS Secretary’s stance on vaccines featured prominently during his Senate Committee hearing, with some liberal vaccine zealots claiming that he would ban them. However, RFK Jr. asserted that vaccines were “not going to be taken away from anybody.” Others also accused him of having ties with the pharmaceutical industry, raising unwarranted concerns about a possible conflict of interest. However, in his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda, RFK Jr. vowed to fight corruption that has plagued the vaccine industry and restore evidence-based science. His agenda also aligned with Trump’s executive order “Restoring Gold Standard Science,” which aims to restore credibility in scientific research across all areas that rely on empirical evidence.
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.
“AFT repeatedly pushed to include language in CDC’s guidance that included a ‘trigger’ which would automatically shut down schools and keep them closed longer than necessary,” the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic learned. “The CDC providing special access to an organization that is primarily driven by politics and not science to influence its scientific guidance is highly concerning and deserves further investigation.”
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.”
Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about the possibility of having anti-vaccine activists on the new board and discussed ways to prevent that from happening. “Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” said Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
In the past, ACIP had members who admitted they did not understand the effects of a Hepatitis B vaccine they recommended for approval.
Sen. Cassidy had extensively grilled RFK Jr. during the Senate confirmation hearings about his stance on the efficacy of vaccines. While he voted to confirm RFK Jr., he demanded assurances that the new HHS Secretary would not reconstitute ACIP. “If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes. CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism,” Cassidy stated.
While RFK. Jr. had reneged on his promise, Sen. Cassidy feels that the HHS Secretary had fulfilled his commitments. Additionally, the tenures of the Biden-appointed ACIP Committee members would have expired in 2028, potentially delaying the HHS Secretary’s MAHA agenda due to potential silent resistance by the liberal bureaucracy. A recent survey showed that roughly three-quarters of liberal federal employees in policy-influencing positions would undermine policies they opposed.
RFK Jr is Trump’s revenge on the FDA/CDC/NIH/other fed gov medical places for screwing up the covid thing. There was a massive screw up. A lot of people got injured or killed as a result. RFK Jr is rapidly working his way through it all and trying to fix it. In my mind, they are slowly regaining credibility as a result. All good.
I feel healthier already.