RFK, Jr. dismisses entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices

On June 9, 2025, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced in an op-ed that he had dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). He characterized the committee as being "plagued by conflicts of interest" among its members and said that many were “last-minute appointees” of the Biden administration.

Many experts and former ACIP members have expressed concern about the dismissals and the allegations of conflicts of interest, arguing that these will further erode public trust in vaccines. One former ACIP member, who was notified of the dismissals after Kennedy’s op-ed was published, said, “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… [ACIP] has the most rigorous conflict of interest policy of any organization that I know of.” The committee recently published information on conflicts and disclosures for its members from 2020 - 2024.

The committee is scheduled to meet in June to discuss vaccinations for Covid-19, RSV, influenza, HPV, and meningococcal disease. Concerns have been raised about the proper vetting and appointment of new advisory members in such a short timeframe. According to Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, “This will not restore trust in vaccines, and is not designed to do so.”

Update: On June 11, 2025, Kennedy announced 8 new ACIP members, calling them “highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians… committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.” Three of the new appointees are known for spreading misinformation, including promoting hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as cures for coronavirus, campaigning against Covid lockdowns, and downplaying the efficacy of vaccines.

Update: Kennedy has chosen 7 new ACIP members, several of whom have taken controversial positions on Covid and vaccinations. MedPage Today reported that the new members include: Joseph Fraiman, MD, who has questioned the safety of Covid vaccines; Catherine Stein, PhD, who wrote in 2021 that Covid is "not the scary killer the media and government portray it to be" and alleged that the Ohio health department was inflating case counts; Evelyn Griffin, MD, who in 2023 testified before the Louisiana Legislature that "the average kid in Louisiana has a higher chance of getting struck by lightning than dying of Covid”; and Kirk Milhoan, MD, who has ties to Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, and was investigated in 2022 by the Hawaii Medical Board for disseminating medical misinformation.