Public Health Experts Alarmed by CDC Advisory Committee Overhaul

On June 9, 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the independent panel responsible for making evidence-based vaccine recommendations in the United States. Kennedy cited concerns over “conflicts of interest” and a need to restore public confidence in vaccine policy.

But the decision has triggered criticism among public health experts, who view it as a politicized attempt to undermine scientific consensus on immunization. As reported by the New York Times, many of the fired advisers had decades of experience and had helped guide the country through major disease outbreaks, including COVID-19 and mpox.

In the days following the dismissal, Kennedy appointed a new slate of ACIP members, many of whom have built careers as critics of mainstream vaccine science. The new panel includes figures like Dr. Robert Malone, who has been widely criticized for spreading mRNA vaccine misinformation, and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a co-author of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration, a document criticized by many in the scientific community for promoting herd immunity through mass infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another appointee, Vicky Pebsworth, has ties to the National Vaccine Information Center, an organization that public health officials have labeled as a source of vaccine skepticism.

These selections have sparked concern across the medical and scientific community. As PBS NewsHour noted in an interview with former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, the panel’s independence is essential to ensuring that vaccine recommendations remain rooted in evidence rather than ideology. “Stacking the committee with skeptics,” Frieden warned, “risks undoing decades of progress in disease prevention.”

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices plays a critical role in safeguarding public health. Its recommendations influence childhood vaccine schedules, school immunization requirements, and insurance coverage policies. According to NPR, the committee has historically operated through transparent, peer-reviewed analysis and public meetings, balancing risk and benefit to recommend vaccines for the general population.

The timing of this overhaul is concerning to critics. In May, the CDC reported that at least 216 children died during the 2024–2025 flu season, the highest number of pediatric flu deaths in over 15 years. Vaccine uptake for both flu and routine childhood immunizations has been declining in recent years, due in large part to the growing influence of misinformation. The removal of qualified experts and their replacement with vaccine skeptics may contribute to this trend, leaving communities more vulnerable to preventable diseases.

The public health consequences of vaccine misinformation are well-documented. A 2022 study published in Nature Human Behaviour found that exposure to vaccine misinformation significantly reduced individuals’ willingness to vaccinate, with effects persisting even after participants were presented with corrective information. Misinformation thrives in environments where public trust is already low, and its spread on social media has been linked to declines in vaccination rates for diseases like measles, HPV, and COVID-19.

When government actions, like the firing of the ACIP, appear to disregard scientific expertise, they can reinforce fringe narratives and erode public trust in health guidance. This is particularly harmful for children, immunocompromised people, and communities of color, who are already disproportionately impacted by public health inequities. This restructuring of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee undermines the foundations of science-based health policy.