The members of a key federal vaccine advisory panel who were unceremoniously dismissed earlier this month said the recent actions of the Trump administration have “critically weakened” the U.S. vaccine program, undermining decades of successful vaccine policy.
In an opinion piece published in the JAMA medical journal, the former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spoke out directly against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision.
Kennedy announced this month he was removing all 17 members of ACIP, saying, “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.” But the terminated members pushed back on this narrative.
“Health care providers and the US public trust ACIP. For the past 18 years, the National Immunization Survey has shown that 99 of every 100 children in the US have received at least some recommended vaccines by 2 years of age, consistent with acceptance of ACIP recommendations implemented by trusted clinicians,” wrote the former members.
“This does not suggest the population is so distrustful that it warrants dismantling the process by which vaccines have been recommended,” they added.
They noted that meetings and agendas were all publicly available, potential conflicts of interest were regularly reviewed, and public comment was included in the committee’s activities.
“The abrupt dismissal of the entire membership of the ACIP, along with its executive secretary, on June 9, 2025, the appointment of 8 new ACIP members just 2 days later, and the recent reduction of CDC staff dedicated to immunizations have left the US vaccine program critically weakened,” their op-ed continued. “These actions have stripped the program of the institutional knowledge and continuity that have been essential to its success over decades.”
The eight new members chosen by Kennedy include COVID-19 contrarians who are known to have spread vaccine misinformation.
Along with their dismissal, the former 17 members also pointed to the changes Kennedy has made to COVID-19 vaccine policy as signs of a “troubling disregard for the scientific integrity that has historically guided US immunization strategy.”