RFK Jr. removes all 17 members of CDC's vaccine advisory committee

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday he is removing all 17 sitting members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee and replacing them with new members.

The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines.

"Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda," Kennedy said in a statement. "The public must know that unbiased science -- evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest -- guides the recommendations of our health agencies."

In a press release, HHS said the Biden administration appointed all 17 sitting ACIP members, with 13 of those appointments occurring in 2024.

The appointments meant the Trump administration would have had to wait until 2028 before choosing a majority of committee members, according to Kennedy.

Kennedy said replacing the sitting committee members would help restore public trust.

"A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science," Kennedy's statement continued. "ACIP new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas."

In a separate op-ed written in The Wall Street Journal on Monday announcing the restructuring of ACIP, Kennedy claimed that the committee was plagued by conflicts of interest.

The CDC has published a list of conflicts of interest declarations disclosed by voting members during public meetings since 2000.

Kennedy also wrote that ACIP had never recommended against a vaccine "even those later withdrawn for safety reasons."

In fact, members ACIP have at times recommended a narrower use of a vaccine than what was technically allowed by authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Kennedy had previously claimed he would not touch ACIP. In February Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, who said he had initially struggled with Kennedy's nomination for HHS secretary before voting to confirm him, said Kennedy had promised him no changes would be made to ACIP.

"He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring system and not establish parallel systems," Cassidy said at the time in a speech on the Senate floor. "If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes."

In a post on X after the changes were announced Monday, Cassidy said there is a fear the ACIP "will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case."

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA's independent panel of vaccine advisers, told ABC News he thought the decision Monday was extremely dangerous.

Kennedy "doesn't have a single example to show where a vote by one of these committees has hurt children," Offit said. "In fact, the opposite is true -- the votes by this committee over the last 25 years have caused children to suffer less and die less. ACIP should be given awards, not fired."

Many major health advocacy organizations also pushed back on the move.

“For generations, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been a trusted national source of science- and data-driven advice and guidance on the use of vaccines to prevent and control disease … Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives," said Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, in a statement. "With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.”

Former CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told ABC News she was "deeply concerned for families trying to navigate how to keep their loved ones healthy and safe," following the move to terminate and replace the members of the committee. "Secretary Kennedy’s unprecedented action spreads confusion and casts doubt on transparent public health processes that protect Americans," said Cohen, who served as the head of the CDC during the Biden administration.

Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC in the Obama administration, said Kennedy's move "should erase any remaining doubt that he intends to impose his personal anti-vaccine agenda on the American people."

Kennedy's announcement on ACIP is the latest in a series of unprecedented moves and a rejection of traditional avenues for making announcements related to vaccines.

Two weeks ago, Kennedy announced in a video posted on X that the COVID-19 vaccine would be removed from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and pregnant women."

Last week, a CDC official, who co-led a part of ACIP, announced she was resigning following Kennedy's announcement on changing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Youri Benadjaoud and Dr. Mark Abdelmalek contributed to this report.