Matthew Chapman
June 12, 2025
RAW STORY
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)
The Wall Street Journal editorial board trashed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for appointing a slew of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists to one of the nation's most important vaccine advisory boards in a blistering takedown published on Thursday evening.
"We didn’t think anyone could do more to damage trust in public health institutions than Anthony Fauci, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is giving it a whirl," wrote the board. "See the eccentric crew the Health and Human Services Secretary has tapped to advise the department on vaccines."
Kennedy announced this month he was dismissing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), a vaccine panel for the Centers for Disease Control that sets childhood vaccine schedules and determines which vaccines are covered under the federal vaccine injury compensation program.
Now, he has announced the people who will replace them — almost none of whom have actual experience with vaccines.
"Two of his new members have served as 'expert' witnesses paid by plaintiff attorneys in lawsuits against vaccine makers. Conflicts, anyone?" wrote the board. "Biostatistician Martin Kulldorff backed claims against Merck over its HPV vaccine. Mr. Kennedy held a financial stake in one of the cases, which after he became secretary he bestowed to his son, who works at the law firm suing Merck, Wisner Baum." He also appointed biochemist Robert Malone, who opposes COVID mRNA vaccination, and "served as a paid expert in litigation against Merck’s mumps vaccine, which was rejected by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Dr. Malone has downplayed the Texas measles outbreak and said two deaths of unvaccinated children owed to medical errors."
One of Kennedy's appointments, Retsef Levi, isn't even involved in medicine or biology, but is a business school professor at MIT, a sharp break from the practice of appointing doctors to ACIP.
"The secretary appears to have picked some vaccine advisers out of a Make America Healthy Again hat," the board jabbed. "Take Joseph Hibbeln, a nutritional neuroscientist whose research focus is omega-3 fatty acids. Another is emergency medicine physician James Pagano, who has written two novels and denounced a study finding that ivermectin was an ineffective Covid treatment."
The board noted that the only one of the appointees with any actual vaccine experience is Cody Meissner, a pediatrician who has advised other government vaccine panels and has promoted the benefits of immunization. "Consider him the committee’s contrarian," they continued.
"Mr. Kennedy claimed in his op-ed in these pages that reconstituting the advisory committee would restore public trust in vaccines," the board concluded. "He’s on a path to do the opposite."
'Clean sweep!' RFK ousts CDC's vaccine advisors to 'earn back' public trust
Sarah K. Burris
June 9, 2025
RAW STORY
A pharmacist looks through a microscope. (Shutterstock)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. penned an announcement in the Wall Street Journal opinion section that he forced the “retiring” of all 17 members of a panel of crucial government vaccine advisors in a dubious attempt to "restore public trust in vaccines."
"Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics," he wrote, "but there is one thing all parties can agree on: The U.S. faces a crisis of public trust. Whether toward health agencies, pharmaceutical companies or vaccines themselves, public confidence is waning."
In fact, most Americans aren't divided on vaccines. A 2024 health survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania showed "28% of survey respondents mistakenly believed that COVID-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, up from 22% in June 2021."
In the survey, about 66% of Americans viewed the COVID-19 vaccine as safe. Meanwhile, an exceptionally high number of Americans have faith in other vaccines, "MMR (81% safe, 83% effective), flu (81%, 75%), shingles (78%, 73%), and pneumonia (74%, 69%)."
Kennedy claimed, "Under my direction, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is putting the restoration of public trust above any pro- or antivaccine agenda. The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies. This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible."
To do that, he's removing all of the members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), claiming it's a "reconstitution" of the panel.
Kennedy revealed that usually, a president wouldn't be able to appoint new members until 2028 because they're appointed for a non-partisan four-year term. Under President Donald Trump, however, they're getting around it by eliminating everyone.
"ACIP evaluates the safety, efficacy and clinical need of the nation’s vaccines and passes its findings on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Kennedy said. He claims that they all have conflicts of interest and have "become little more than a rubber stamp." They're required to disclose all conflicts of interest publicly, and it's displayed online.
Kennedy cited an investigation from 25 years ago to allege corruption.
“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,” Kennedy continued.
He concluded: "A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science. In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators, who had a reputation for integrity, scientific impartiality and zealous defense of patient welfare. Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back."
As CNBC explained, the agencies and advisory panels "have had rigorous policies for conflicts of interest, and there have been no related issues for years."
Yet, over the years, Kennedy has been criticized for his significant changes to immunization practices since taking over HHS. Meanwhile, scientists, public health experts, and physicians have been critical that Kennedy is undermining confidence in vaccines.
As one health policy expert previously told CNBC, firing the advisory committee could "produce politicized recommendations that highlight the harms rather than the benefits of shots."
For the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe in vaccines, the new panel's "recommendations could also create greater distrust in the CDC and Trump administration among scientists and public health experts."
A pharmacist looks through a microscope. (Shutterstock)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. penned an announcement in the Wall Street Journal opinion section that he forced the “retiring” of all 17 members of a panel of crucial government vaccine advisors in a dubious attempt to "restore public trust in vaccines."
"Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics," he wrote, "but there is one thing all parties can agree on: The U.S. faces a crisis of public trust. Whether toward health agencies, pharmaceutical companies or vaccines themselves, public confidence is waning."
In fact, most Americans aren't divided on vaccines. A 2024 health survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania showed "28% of survey respondents mistakenly believed that COVID-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, up from 22% in June 2021."
In the survey, about 66% of Americans viewed the COVID-19 vaccine as safe. Meanwhile, an exceptionally high number of Americans have faith in other vaccines, "MMR (81% safe, 83% effective), flu (81%, 75%), shingles (78%, 73%), and pneumonia (74%, 69%)."
Kennedy claimed, "Under my direction, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is putting the restoration of public trust above any pro- or antivaccine agenda. The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies. This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible."
To do that, he's removing all of the members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), claiming it's a "reconstitution" of the panel.
Kennedy revealed that usually, a president wouldn't be able to appoint new members until 2028 because they're appointed for a non-partisan four-year term. Under President Donald Trump, however, they're getting around it by eliminating everyone.
"ACIP evaluates the safety, efficacy and clinical need of the nation’s vaccines and passes its findings on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Kennedy said. He claims that they all have conflicts of interest and have "become little more than a rubber stamp." They're required to disclose all conflicts of interest publicly, and it's displayed online.
Kennedy cited an investigation from 25 years ago to allege corruption.
“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,” Kennedy continued.
He concluded: "A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science. In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators, who had a reputation for integrity, scientific impartiality and zealous defense of patient welfare. Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back."
As CNBC explained, the agencies and advisory panels "have had rigorous policies for conflicts of interest, and there have been no related issues for years."
Yet, over the years, Kennedy has been criticized for his significant changes to immunization practices since taking over HHS. Meanwhile, scientists, public health experts, and physicians have been critical that Kennedy is undermining confidence in vaccines.
As one health policy expert previously told CNBC, firing the advisory committee could "produce politicized recommendations that highlight the harms rather than the benefits of shots."
For the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe in vaccines, the new panel's "recommendations could also create greater distrust in the CDC and Trump administration among scientists and public health experts."
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