Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sensationally ousted every member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the Biden-appointed group that made recommendations on the necessity and use of vaccines, in the first of a series of sweeping changes.
The decision to remove all 17 members of the scientific committee, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and replace them with his own picks, was described as “a clean sweep” by President Trump’s health secretary in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday.
“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” RFK Jr. wrote.
“A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”
Kennedy Jr., one of the leading anti-vaccine activists in the US, did not say whom he would appoint to the panel, but said the committee would meet in Atlanta in two weeks.
All of the current committee members were brought in under the Biden administration, while 13 of them were brought on only last year.
It will take until 2028 for most of the members to be replaced if they serve their full terms, Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services said.
One just-dismissed ACIP member claimed they did not receive a termination notice until after the publication of RFK Jr.’s WSJ op-ed — and slammed the move as “damaging.”
“I’ve never seen anything this damaging to public health happen in my lifetime. I’m shocked. It’s pretty brazen. This will fundamentally destabilize vaccination in America,” the unnamed member told CNN.
The HHS cited an executive order from President Trump calling for changes in the role the federal government plays in science and health.
Still, the move has been ripped by a number of major physicians and public health groups.
Kennedy Jr., whose controversial appointment was confirmed in February, was accused of “fixing a problem that doesn’t exist,” by Dr. Paul A. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, speaking to USA TODAY.
“Now he’s just going to pick people he likes. Presumably, people who are like-minded, and I think that will shake confidence in this committee,” he said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer accused Kennedy and the Trump administration of “taking a wrecking ball to the programs that keep Americans safe and healthy,” speaking to USA TODAY.
“Worse, it sends a chilling message: that ideology matters more than evidence, and politics more than public health,” he added.
That's a crock! Biden and the CDC abused science mercilessly in supporting mRNA vaccines and condemning Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. It cost millions of American lives but made a bunch of money for big pharma and the governments that supported them.
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