RFK Jr gets rid of everyone on the US vaccine advisory panel sparking huge backlash

US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is firing every member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) advisory committee on vaccines and people are angry.

The shocking announcement was made on Monday (9 June), when it was revealed that Health and Human Services (HSS) secretary RFK Jr was removing each member of a committee that is tasked with advising the US government on vaccines.

His “disgraceful” and “dangerous” decision comes not long after he admitted Americans shouldn’t take his health advice during a House subcommittee hearing.

RFK Jr, a known vaccine sceptic, made the news public via an op-ed in the Wall Street Journalin which he said he planned to retire all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.

The committee advises the HSS and the CDC on vaccines and how they can be used to prevent the spread of diseases.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In a press release, the HSS said: “Under the leadership of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the agency removed the 17 sitting members of the ACIP committee and will replace them with new members currently under consideration.”

It argued, “The prior administration made a concerted effort to lock in public health ideology”. RFK Jr himself also cited “conflicts of interest”.

Americans, and particularly many of those in the medical field, have been left stunned and appalled by the unprecedented decision.

An infectious diseases doctor wrote on X/Twitter: “Here we go. RFK Jr has fired the entire advisory committee on vaccines

“He will pack it with his anti vaccine pseudoscientists. His plan to destroy the entire vaccine program has begun. A dangerous lunatic.”

Another doctor wrote: “The unbelievable audacity of Robert F Kennedy, a man who has for decades been a mouthpiece for antivaccine propaganda, dispel actual vaccine experts is a damning indictment of why he is so perversely unfit for office. History will rightfully rinse this man.”

“Absolute insanity. With no CDC director and no Vaccine Advisory Committee, RFK Jr (a hardline antivaxxer) is now, seemingly, the de facto controller of vaccines in the US…” warned another doctor.

One person pointed out: “As a reminder, when Sen. Bill Cassidy voted to confirm him, he said that RFK had promised to maintain the vaccine advisory panel ‘without changes’.”

Another described the moment as “Dark Age 2.0 gaining momentum”.

“RFK Jr. just fired all 17 members of the CDC’s expert panel of vaccine advisers.

“That won’t ‘Make America Healthy Again.’

“But it will make kids sick again. Bring preventable diseases back again. And plummet confidence in public health again.

“Disgraceful,” New York Congressman Ritchie Torres said.

One person wrote: “Have you seen a baby have a seizure from meningitis? I have.

“Have you seen a baby die from whooping cough? I have.

“Have you seen a baby intubated with epiglottis? I have.

“Thanks to RFK Jr, you may soon see these things as well as the US wipes away decades of medical progress.”

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