Kennedy announces new vaccine advisers
By: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
and Adrianna Rodriguez
USA Today
..... Two days after he fired 17 members of a committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety, Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced eight new members, including several high-profile vaccine critics.
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Vaccine experts warned Kennedy's abrupt termination of the entire committee on June 9 [2025] would crate public distrust around the government's role in promoting public health Kennedy has a history of controversial views on vaccines.
..... The list of new members includes scientists, public health experts and physicians.
..... The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It comprises medical and public health experts who develop recommendations on the sue of vaccines in the civilian populations of the United States.
...... "The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well," Kennedy noted.
..... Kennedy's list includes some widely respected experts, such as Dr. Cody Meissner, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Tufts Children's Hospital.
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However, it also includes prominent figures who have criticize vaccines.
..... One of them Dr. Robert Malone, is a virologist and vaccine skeptic who became well-known during the COVID-19 pandemic for spreading misinformation about the virus on conservative shows and podcasts. His appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience" prompted after Malone promoted false and misleading conspiracy theories about the vaccine.
..... Kennedy also chose Vicky Pebsworth, who has been listed on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, a group widely criticized for spreading vaccine misinformation.
.... His pick Retesf Levi, a professor of preradiation management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, posted a video on X in 2023 criticizing COVID-19vacines.
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Dr. Martin Kulldorff, another one of Kennedy's ACIP appointees, wrote a paper published in the Journal of he Academy of Public Health in March [2025] that called for a "COVID Commission" that would investigate the National Institutes of Health's handling of the pandemic.
..... The other appointee are Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and conscientiousness with a career in clinical research, public health policy and federal service: Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician; and Dr. Michael A. Ross, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
..... Dr. Paul A. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, previously told USA Today that in overhauling the committee, Kennedy was "fixing a problem that doesn't exist.
..... Appointing committee members generally involves a three- to four-month vetting process by the CDC.