RFK Jr. Taps 8 New ACIP Members, Offit Concedes Most ‘Seem Reasonable’

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight researchers and physicians to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory panel to replace approximately half of the members he fired from the panel earlier this week.

Kennedy announced the move late Wednesday on X, two days after removing all 17 sitting members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, in what he called “a major step in restoring public trust in vaccines.”

Kennedy said the new group includes “highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians,” all of whom are “committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”

He also said the members have “committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations” and that they will review the safety and efficacy data for the current childhood immunization schedule.