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US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has fired all of the members of a top vaccine advisory committee, an aggressive step that could alter the country’s immunisation policy.
On Monday, the health and human services department said it removed 17 members of the advisory committee for immunisation practices, which makes recommendations about vaccine dosages for Americans and the age they should be administered. Kennedy, an outspoken vaccine sceptic, said he was remaking the panel to restore public trust in it, claiming its members had conflicts of interest.
“The committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas,” Kennedy said in a statement. He added that former president Joe Biden appointed most of the members last year and their terms were set until 2028.
The committee has up to 19 voting members who are independent doctors and health officials and do not work for the government. The group is organised by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and typically meets three times a year. It also includes non-voting organisations such as the American Medical Association.
A spokeswoman for the health department declined to say whether new members for the committee had been identified. The committee is scheduled to hold its next meeting this month.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, called the move “reckless”.
“RFK Jr and the Trump administration are taking a wrecking ball to the programmes that keep Americans safe and healthy,” he said. “Firing experts that have spent their entire lives protecting kids from deadly disease is not reform — it’s reckless, radical and rooted in conspiracy, not science.”
Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” commission report from May cast doubt on vaccines, noting children today are getting more shots than in previous decades. All 50 US states required some form of vaccine mandate for public school attendance, but European countries — including the UK — did not require childhood vaccination, the report said.
Kennedy’s hostility towards vaccines has been punishing for the drug companies that make them. Moderna, best known for its Covid-19 vaccine, has seen its shares sink 32 per cent this year, while Pfizer’s shares are down nearly 10 per cent.
Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor in Washington
