This is a developing story.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight new members to serve on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) vaccine advisory panel just two days after he removed all 17 sitting members of the key advisory committee.
Kennedy described the decision to upend the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) as “prioritizing the restoration of public trust.”
His unprecedented move to oust the entire vaccine advisory panel ignited criticism from medical associations and experts as well as concerns that the promised replacements won’t be trustworthy.
RFK Jr. posted on X Wednesday evening that the eight new members will attend ACIP’s scheduled June 25 meeting.
"The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians," RFK Jr. wrote in the lengthy post on X. "All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense. They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well."
The CDC's ACIP helps set vaccine policy and develop recommendations for the immunization schedule, which guides health providers and influences which shots are covered by health insurers.
The new members include well-known vaccine skeptics and many who were critical of government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new members are:
Joseph Hibbeln, M.D. — a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who was the former acting chief of the Section on Nutritional Neurosciences at the National Institutes of Health, where he led research on immune regulation, neurodevelopment and mental health.
Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D. — a biostatistician and epidemiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School who co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration with Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., who is now director of the National Institutes of Health. That open letter criticized lockdowns and other public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously served on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA's) Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Retsef Levi. Ph.D. — professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management who also served as faculty director of MIT Sloan’s Food Supply Chain Analytics and Sensing Initiative.
Robert Malone, M.D. — a physician-scientist and biochemist who conducted early research on mRNA vaccine technology. He has since become a critic of COVID vaccines and he suggested this year, without evidence, that recent pediatric deaths from measles were due to medical error, according to posts on his Substack.
Cody Meissner, M.D. — professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth who previously had advisory roles with both the CDC and the FDA.
James Pagano, M.D. — a board-certified emergency medicine physician
Vicky Pebsworth, Ph.D. — the Pacific region director of the National Association of Catholic Nurses. She is a former member of the FDA's Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee
Michael Ross, M.D. — clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He previously served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Breast and Cervical Cancer.
RFK Jr. listed Malone, Kulldorff, Pebsworth and Meissner in the the dedication of his book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” which attempts to undermine the former health official’s work and motivations before and during the pandemic, Stat reported.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Malone gained nationwide notoriety through appearances on podcasts and conservative television shows, where he sought to minimize the severity of the disease. He further spread misleading claims about mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines during the period, according to Reuters and AFP.
As for Kulldorff, he’s served as a paid expert witness for plaintiffs who have sued Merck with injury claims tied to the company’s blockbuster human papillomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, according to Reuters.
Historically, members of the ACIP have gone through an extensive vetting process before they were appointed. The panel typically consists of 15 or more members. According to its most recent policies and procures, the committee can only vote when a quorum is present, defined as "more than half of the voting members are present." It is not clear if Kennedy intends to select more members.
Bobby Mukkamala, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, questioned the vetting process for selecting the new ACIP members.
“The AMA is deeply concerned to learn that new members have already been selected for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) without transparency and proper vetting to ensure they have the expertise necessary to make vaccine recommendations to protect the health of Americans," he said in a statement. "We urge the Administration to reconsider the removal of the 17 ACIP members who have deep expertise in vaccines so physicians can continue to have confidence in ACIP’s recommendations, which have for decades helped them make recommendations to patients about vaccination. We will closely monitor the developments of ACIP and encourage the Administration to recommit to maintaining vaccine access for all Americans.”
Fierce Life Sciences Executive Editor Eric Sagonowsky contributed to this reporting.