RFK Jr. overhauls CDC vaccine panel with public health experts who are skeptical about vaccines

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has just dropped a bombshell by completely reshaping the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the key group advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policies.

CNBC reported that this isn’t just a minor reshuffle; it’s a full-on reset of a panel that reviews vaccine data and recommends who gets shots and how insurance covers them, with the CDC director’s sign-off required to turn those ideas into policy.

Kennedy didn’t hold back, announcing his picks on X with pride, calling them “highly credentialed scientists” and “leading public-health experts” committed to “evidence-based medicine.”

Among the new lineup, Dr. Robert Malone stands out—a physician who claims a role in early mRNA vaccine tech but has since become a darling of the anti-vaccine crowd, even suggesting that recent measles deaths in children stemmed from medical errors, not the virus.

Then there’s Retsef Levi, an MIT professor who’s publicly slammed mRNA vaccines, with a 2023 X post still pinned on Wednesday declaring they “cause serious harm” and must be stopped “immediately.”

Critics Sound Alarm on New ACIP Direction

Other picks include Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a former NIH neuroscientist; Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician with past CDC advisory experience; and Vicky Pebsworth, a nurse tied to an organization often criticized for spreading vaccine misinformation by the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Cody Meissner, a Dartmouth pediatrics professor and former ACIP member, seems a safer bet, having called measles vaccines “very safe” in a 2024 article.

These new selections have been criticised by leftists and mainstream figures in the healthcare industry, like Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician, who dubbed Meissner merely the “good choice” among a troubling bunch.

Offit is not mincing words, labeling some new members “anti-vaccine activists” and warning that the public won’t get the same “quality of advice” as before.  Of course, figures like Offit were silent when criticising the vaccine was grounds for public castigation.

Another leftist figure, Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown public health law professor, took to X to broadcast his shrieking hysteria, calling this overhaul a “national tragedy” and a “major threat” to children’s health.

Kennedy, for his part, isn’t shy about his doubts on vaccines, having described the current U.S. measles outbreak as overblown and raised alarms about the use of fetal cells in shots.

With his handpicked team, including several who echo his skepticism, the direction of vaccine policy could veer far from the status quo, which is what many Americans want.

The new ACIP crew is set to convene for a meeting from June 25 to 27, as Kennedy noted on X, giving us a front-row seat to how this experiment unfolds. Will they prioritize data over doubts, or will personal biases steer the ship? That’s the million-dollar question.

Uncertainty Looms Over Vaccine Future

Public health “experts” have long predicted that Kennedy would stack the deck with like-minded skeptics, but Kennedy has exceeded expectations and is truly keeping his promise to bring real change to the healthcare industry.

For now, the impact of this new panel on national vaccine policy is unclear, and HHS didn’t respond to requests for comment on the anti-vaccine leanings of some members.

But one thing’s certain: actions have consequences, and replacing an entire advisory body with a group this controversial is being done with a specific purpose in mind.

The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are incalculably corrupt, and it will take bold outsiders to come in and reform decades of systemic corruption.