US Health Secretary Kennedy appoints 8 new CDC vaccine advisers after firing Biden-era panel

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, United States (AA) - US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday appointed eight new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), following his decision to fire all 17 members appointed during the Biden administration.

The newly announced appointees include a diverse group of medical and public health professionals: a biochemist, a biostatistician, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a healthcare analytics expert, an emergency medical physician, a public health and critical care nurse, and an obstetrician. All hold either medical or doctoral degrees.

“The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians,” Kennedy wrote on X.

Among the most controversial of the picks is Dr. Robert Malone, an mRNA researcher who gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic for promoting conspiracy theories related to vaccines and treatments. Malone has previously claimed coronavirus vaccines cause a form of AIDS and has endorsed unproven treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

“Malone has a well-documented history of promoting conspiracy theories and unproven treatments,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an epidemiologist at the University of Southern California, in comments to The Washington Post.

Another contentious appointment is Vicky Pebsworth, a regional director for the National Association of Catholic Nurses. She also serves as a board member of the National Vaccine Information Center, a group widely labeled as a source of vaccine misinformation and anti-vaccine activism.

Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and former Harvard professor, was also named to the panel. While generally supportive of vaccines, he has publicly opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccination of children, and co-authored the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, which rejected lockdown measures.

Kennedy, a long-time figure in the anti-vaccine movement, insisted he would not appoint "ideological anti-vaxxers" to the committee.

"All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense," said Kennedy. "They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations."

The new panel will convene for the CDC’s next ACIP meeting scheduled for June 25.