The Department of Health and Human Services fired all 17 members of a committee that makes recommendations on the safety and efficacy of vaccines, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday.
In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal, Kennedy, who has a long history of vaccine skepticism, wrote that remaking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was necessary to restore public trust in the federal health system, claiming that the committee has been “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”
“The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies,” Kennedy added. “This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible.”