On June 9, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired all 17 members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) committee that makes national vaccine policy—the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). “A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Secretary Kennedy said.1 2 3 4 5 He added:
ACIP’s 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. The entire world once looked to American health regulators for guidance, inspiration, scientific impartiality, and unimpeachable integrity. Public trust has eroded. Only through radical transparency and gold standard science, will we earn it back.2 3
The 17 members purged from the committee were all appointed by the Biden administration. Thirteen of them were appointed in 2024 and were scheduled to serve on the committee through 2028. According to a press release by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS):
The prior administration made a concerted effort to lock in public health ideology and limit the incoming administration’s ability to take the proper actions to restore public trust in vaccines.3
The members who were removed include: Helen Talbot, MD, MPH (chair); Edwin Jose Asturias, MD; Noel Brewer, PhD; Oliver Brooks, MD; Lin Chen, MD; Helen Chu, MD, MPH; Sybil Cineas, MD; Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH; Mini Kamboj, MD; George Kuchel, MD; Jamie Loehr, MD; Karyn Lyons, RN; Yvonne Maldonado, MD; Charlotte Moser, MS; Robert Schechter, MD; Albert Shaw, MD, PhD; and Jane Zucker, MD.6
ACIP Long Plagued by Conflicts of Interest
Kennedy said that ACIP has been “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.” This was apparently one of the main reasons for the shake-up.
While it is unclear how many of the fired ACIP members had financial conflicts of interests with the pharmaceutical industry, a recent report by Science, Public Health Policy and the Law reveals that, based on CMS Open Payments records, at least five of the fired advisors had financial “entanglements” with drugmakers that could put into the question their independence. These include Dr. Asturias, Dr. Maldonado, Dr. Talbot, Dr. Brooks, and Dr. Brewer.7
In the case of Asturias, it is reported that he received $3.8 million from Pfizer, Inc. and other companies during 2019-2023. Maldonado reportedly $4.6 million in funding “linked” to Merck & Co., Inc. Talbot is reported to have received more than $312,000 in “associated research support tied” to Sanofi SA and Gilead Sciences, Inc.7
Over a 10-year period, Brooks was apparently paid for “promotional speaking and consulting engagements” by Sanofi, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline plc, and other companies. Lastly, Brewer revealed that he had done consulting for Merck, Sanofi, Moderna, Inc., and Novavax, Inc., as well as the World Health Organization (WHO).7
Eight New ACIP Members Named
Two days after retiring the 17 members of ACIP, Kennedy began naming their replacements, including biochemist Robert Malone, MD; biostatistician and epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, MD, PhD; emergency medicine physician James Pagano, MD; MIT professor of operations management Retsef Levi, PhD; NIH scientist Joseph Hibbeln, MD; Dartmouth professor of pediatrics Cody Meissner, MD; Michael Ross, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University; and Vicky Pebsworth, OP, PhD, RN, board member and volunteer director of research and patient safety for the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).8 9
“This is a huge win for the medical freedom [m]ovement,” said David Mansdoerfer, former deputy assistant secretary for the DHHS. “They did everything by the book to put together this excellent slate of appointees.”9
The next meeting of ACIP is scheduled for June 25-27 at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.3
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Click here to view References:1 Constantino AK. RFK Jr. removes all members of CDC panel advising U.S. on vaccines. CNBC June 9, 2025.
2 Kennedy RF. RFK Jr.: HHS Moves to Restore Public Trust in Vaccines. The Wall Street Journal June 9, 2025.
3 Press Release. HHS Takes Bold Step to Restore Public Trust in Vaccines by Reconstituting ACIP. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services June 9, 2025.
4 Ungar L, Seitz A. RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee. Associated Press June 9, 2025.
5 Wendling M, Halpert M. RFK Jr sacks entire US vaccine committee. BBC June 10, 2025.
6 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP Committee Members. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Apr. 14, 2025.
7 Science, Public Health Policy and the Law. Was Firing ACIP the Right Move? Former ACIP Member Conflicts of Interest Details Emerge.
8 Owermohle S, Tirrell M. Kennedy names new members of CDC vaccine advisory panel days after removing previous advisers. CNN June 11, 2025.
9 Stone W, Huang P. RFK Jr. names new slate of vaccine advisers after purging CDC panel. NPR June 12, 2025.
15 Responses
The best news I’ve heard in 50 of my 80 years!!! May God bless this endeavor abundantly! I am a retired nurse, and mother of 5 unvaccinated children
How beautiful is that: “mother of five unvaccinated children.”
And I really wonder how many other mothers’ children this wonderful mother vaccinated over the course of her long career?
Talk about conflicts of interest……so why then did RFK Jr. put Malone on the ACIP committee???? Peter McCullough would have been a much better choice than Malone.
I completely agree with you. Malone is not good. McCullough was the way to go.
One of the few bright spots and Trump’s administration. Thank you rfk
I say it is a wonderful plan a clean sweep
‘“A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Secretary Kennedy said.”‘ This is a fallacy. The problem with this statement is that there is no science behind vaccines and never has been. They have always been advanced under the plageuristic Pasteur Germ Theory, which by the way is still a theory and a very poor one at that.
This is probably the best news that I have read in a long time. When the real research is done and reported to the American public, there will be shock. This was a brave and necessary move by RFK.
Took long enough. Now when do they get placed in shackles and handcuffs and have their wealth stripped alongside all the corporate executives whom put them there and directed them like subservient puppets? What they were doing was not science. They are not experts. Millions of people dead or maimed for life. Careers and fortunes destroyed in clear as day violations of constitutional and basic human rights. No problem, they’re only making suggestions for the government.
Question; When do we get a vote? These bureaucrats continue to direct policy which affects everyone as they sit on high above the law. Forgive me for being less than optimistic anything will change with some mere chair reshuffling. They’ll all shuffle back in again later or become co opted under a nearly identical management and operational structure sooner rather than later. We appreciate the efforts from RFK Jr, but honestly, it’s going to take more than one person and until someone goes to jail and real financial accountability is applied retroactively for all the crime and harm, don’t expect too much and you won’t be quite as disappointed.
GOOD! This is great news. Nice that we can finally move in a positive direction with this hot mess.
save money – appoint 9 or 11, do you have to have 17?
Notice the minor complaints only . . . they know there were conflicts and the replacements are qualified so there is little room to criticize. Are they regrouping and scheming for a resurgence later? Can we hope for some indictments for the crimes committed?
‘Vaccine science’ stands or falls on the validity of the ‘germ-theory sciences’ of virology and its sisters. If the new appointees have no capacity to read and understand the methods sections of original research papers and to assess the validity of stated conclusions based on experimental design and methods then the crisis of confidence will remain the rightly justified response and RFK Jr’s initiative will come to nothing.
You do realize that committee members receive no salary?
That’s awesome!
I am so totally against vaccines now. seen to many side effects. Of course the fact that kids get to many to soon. My older sons got 5 before school. No autism. No health issues. My daughter 22 before age 2 and full blown autism. I am praying for an end to this mess. Really 1-10,000 before 1990’s 1-30 in 2025. Good for the greater good. The greater good is gone!!