Last week Robert F Kennedy Jr dismissed all 17 members of a key advisory committee, accusing them of financial conflicts of interest.
Two days later, he announced the appointment of eight new members, including several vaccine critics, such as a biochemist who became the darling of the anti-vax movement.
The unprecedented measure was roundly criticised by the Democratic opposition, as well as by several renowned experts and health authorities who expressed concern it represented an attack on medical expertise.
The 17 former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), who advised the country’s main health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published an editorial in the JAMA medical journal saying the ACIP was “at a crossroads.”
“The abrupt dismissal of the entire membership of the ACIP… the appointment of 8 new ACIP members just 2 days later, and the recent reduction of CDC staff dedicated to immunisations have left the US vaccine programme critically weakened,” they warned.
“These actions have stripped the programme of the institutional knowledge and continuity that have been essential to its success over decades,” they added, denouncing the recent changes to Covid-19 vaccine policy announced by Kennedy on social media and which “appear to have bypassed the standard, transparent, and evidence-based review process.”
“As former ACIP members, we are deeply concerned that these destabilising decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of US immunisation policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put US families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses.”
RFK Jr in recent years has relayed numerous conspiracy theories about Covid vaccines and alleged links between vaccination and autism, notably through the Children’s Health Defense organisation he co-founded, which have long been debunked.
Since becoming head of the US department of health and human services in February, he has initiated a major overhaul of health policy.