RFK Jr. Removes All 17 Members of the CDC's Vaccine Advisory Committee

On June 9, 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the independent expert panel whose recommendations shape CDC vaccine schedules, insurance coverage requirements and liability protections. Kennedy said the committee 'has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine' and that 'a clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.' Members are normally selected by career CDC staff from an application pool and approved by the secretary; the entire panel was cleared at once and replaced with new appointees named days later.

The removal transferred effective control of federal vaccine recommendations to a panel chosen wholly by a secretary who has spent decades questioning vaccine safety, through a personnel action requiring no notice, rulemaking or congressional approval.

The American Medical Association said the move 'upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives,' and the American Academy of Pediatrics called it part of an escalating effort to silence independent medical expertise. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican physician who chaired Kennedy's confirmation hearings, said Kennedy had promised to leave the committee intact and warned it could be filled with people who 'know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.'