RFK JR. Discharge of CDC vaccine advisors Effects on public health
Us Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., leaves the stage after the results of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the latest autism and developmental disorders surveillance (ADDM) Network Umage (ADDM) in the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, US, US USA, were discussed on April 16, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary for Health and Human Services, has disappointed an important government committee of vaccine consultants and explains that he wanted to restore the public's trust in shots.
Some health policy Experts say that the dismissal of the committee members will do the opposite.
“Instead of restoring public trust, his actions simply politicize science and vaccine policy,” Lawrence Gostin, professor of public health at Georgetown University, told CNBC. “I don't know how to trust HHS.”
Gostin and other experts said that the step undermines science, disturbs a trustworthy regulatory process for recordings and could increase the distrust of the public both in vaccinations and federal health authorities. Some experts said the shots could endanger public health, erode the US immunization rates against one-off teething problems and make the nation less prepared to deal with new or existing outbreaks of vaccine diseases.
The possible effects on vaccine manufacturers like ModernPresent MerchantPresent Pfizer And Biontech It is less clear, but some analysts state that the regulatory process leads more uncertainty.
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, said on Monday that he dismissed all 17 members of the advisory committee for immunization practices or ACIP, which advises the centers for the control and prevention of diseases. The group of experts for independent medical and public health checks vaccine data and gives crucial recommendations that determine who is entitled to record recordings and whether insurers should cover them, among other things.
It is the latest in a series of steps that Kennedy has undertaken as head of HHS, to reduce decades of US vaccine disorders and to remove the public's trust. On his most recent efforts, he dropped the CDC's recommendation for routine Covid 19 vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women, which also triggered outrage in the medical and scientific community.
It is unclear who will replace the current committee, but some experts warn that Kennedy could try to appoint members who agree to the Accacine views. This could lead to politicized recommendations that emphasize the damage rather than the advantages of recordings or make them far voluntarily, keep more Americans from getting shots or vaccinating their children.
“It is really important that we acknowledge that these measures affect everyone,” said Dr. Neil Maniar, professor of public health at Northheastern University, compared to CNBC. “This is not just a committee that was retired. It is a committee whose work has a comprehensive impact.”
HHS did not immediately answer a request for a comment about who is appointed to the committee and the concerns of experts in health policy.
Kennedy's “unfounded” claims and what comes next
HHS on Monday has not given a schedule for the appointment of new members. However, the agency in a publication said that ACIP would continue to hold a planned meeting from June 25th to 27th. On Monday, CNBC announced that a source familiar with the matter that the anonymity requested freely speaking to speak that completely new members will carry out this meeting.
In an op-ET in Wall Street Journal on Monday, Kennedy claimed that the current ACIP committee “was” plagued by persistent conflicts of interest and that there was little more than a stamp for every vaccine “.
However, these allegations are “completely unfounded” and will “have significant negative effects on Americans of all ages,” said Tina Tan, President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, in a statement given by e -mail.
She said ACIP was a highly qualified group of experts that “always with transparency and the obligation to protect the health of the public”.
All HHS agencies and their advisory panels have long had strict guidelines for conflicts of interest, and there have been no relatives for years. Members of the Bundesviakt advisory committees are already obliged to comply with regulations on the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
“The secretary uses conflicts of interest as a trick to ignore or cherry scientific evidence,” said Gostin. “Acip members give all potential conflicts completely open and apologize for the vote when there are perceived conflicts.”
Sherry Andrews prepares an MMR vaccine in the department of the city of Lubbock Heath in Lubbock, Texas, February 27, 2025.
Annie Rice | Reuters
In a statement on Tuesday, the American Academy of Physician Associates said “it is essential that the administration is acting immediately to reconstruct the committee through an open and transparent process that includes various votes against”, including medical associations.
But Northeastern's Maniar said that he would not surprise himself if Kennedy taps political appointments who share his views on vaccine science.
This could lead to recommendations that restrict who is suitable for various vaccinations, or give much more scope for individuals to decide whether they should be immunized, said Maniar. He added that Kennedy's restored panel may want to take longer to check certain vaccines before they are available, and delay the time they need to reach patients.
“It is certainly in the area of the possibility that we will see lower vaccination rates as a result,” said Maniar.
This could increase the risk of diseases distributed in the loss of vaccine, since the United States is already dealing with an unprecedented measles outbreak and, according to Maniar, go into a summer season with more trips and repressed. The recommendations of the new committee will also be of crucial importance for children, since the nation is approaching a new school year in autumn.
Kennedy's decision contradicts a promise that he made Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, during his hearing of the Senate Health, Education and Pension Committee for the Senate. Kennedy told Cassidy, who made the decision to advance his nomination by the committee that he would not change ACIP at that time.
On Monday, Cassidy said in a post on X that the fear is now that “Acip with people who know nothing about vaccines will know apart from suspicion”. But he said he would continue to speak to Kennedy to “make sure that this is not the case”.
Effects on vaccine manufacturers
New Comirnaty® vaccine (COVID-19-vaccine, mRNA) from Pfizer, now available in the CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock, CA.
Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty pictures
Some Wall Street analysts also said that the move is a risk for vaccine manufacturers that are dependent on federal authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC to approve and recommend their products.
“In the worst case, the committee could have the current recommendations for the abolition of the recommendations for [new] And existing vaccines, “said Leerin Link Partners Daina Graybosch in a note on Monday. However, she found that the company cannot fully quantify the effects of the move before seeing who will replace the current panel.
In a note on Monday, the BMO Capital Markets Analyst Evan Seogerman said that Kennedy's decision was “a negative headwind” for vaccine manufacturers, since new appointments are likely to be more critical.
But he said he expects “most of the effects to be muted”. Seigerman pointed to Kennedy's picks to lead the FDA and its department, the biological products, the Center for Biologika evaluation and research and found that the final selection for each seat did not reflect a “Doomsday” scenario.
The FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Cber Head Vinay Prasad have so far “been less negative for the sector than originally feared,” he said.
“While RFK Jr.'s comment was consistently critical of vaccines, we believe that this was well established with a realistic headwind, which was largely evaluated by the market,” said Seogerman.
