RFK Jr.’s new picks for CDC vaccine advisory panel

The HHS secretary on Wednesday named eight doctors and researchers, including four who’ve spoken out against vaccination in some way, to replace about half the members he fired from an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The New York Times reports.

On Tuesday night, a day after he’d fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Kennedy posted on X that he wouldn’t appoint “ideological anti-vaxxers.”

After the new list was announced, infectious disease and vaccine experts immediately accused Kennedy of breaking his word. 

“By far the most contentious pick, and the one with the highest profile, is Dr. Robert Malone,” says the Times.

“Malone has a well-documented history of promoting conspiracy theories and unproven treatment like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19,” says Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at the University of Southern California.

“Some of the more notable selections include Martin Kulldorff, the co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for herd immunity through mass covid infection in 2020, and Vicky Pebsworth, who is listed on the board of the nation’s oldest anti-vaccine group,” says The Washington Post.

The American College of Physicians issued a statement Wednesday calling for Kennedy to stop the appointments and restore the previous committee members. “The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust,” says Jason Goldman, the group’s president.

Medical and professional organizations that condemned Kennedy’s purge of the committee include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Association of Immunologists, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Nurses Association, the Post says.

Here is more on the vaccine panel, from The Associated Press.