The US health secretary removed all members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel on vaccines.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted vaccine skeptic, said the 17 experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices were being “retired”, arguing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “a clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”
The committee offers recommendations to the CDC on which vaccines are used and who should receive them; RFK Jr argued that the panel was plagued with conflicts of interest and was simply a “rubber stamp” for vaccine approvals. The American Medical Association said the move would “fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases,” noting the rise of measles in the US.
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