卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪周一宣布，他将解除疾病控制和预防中心疫苗咨询委员会的所有17名现任成员，并用新成员取代他们。
免疫实践咨询委员会(ACIP)就疫苗的安全性、有效性和临床需求提出建议。
肯尼迪在一份声明中说:“今天，我们把恢复公众信任放在任何具体的支持或反对疫苗议程之上。”。“公众必须知道，不偏不倚的科学——通过透明的过程进行评估，不受利益冲突的影响——指导着我们卫生机构的建议。”
在一个新闻稿HHS说，拜登政府任命了所有17名现任ACIP成员，其中13人的任命发生在2024年。
肯尼迪表示，这些任命意味着特朗普政府必须等到2028年才能选择大多数委员会成员。
肯尼迪说，更换现任委员会成员将有助于恢复公众信任。
“为了重建公众对疫苗科学的信心，一次彻底的清洗是必要的，”肯尼迪的声明继续说道。“ACIP新成员将优先考虑公共卫生和循证医学。该委员会将不再充当行业获利议程的橡皮图章。”
在另一篇写于华尔街日报在周一宣布ACIP的重组时，甘乃迪声称委员会受到利益冲突的困扰。
疾控中心已经公布了一份利益冲突声明清单自2000年以来由投票成员在公开会议上披露。
Kennedy还写道，ACIP从未推荐过疫苗，“即使是那些后来因安全原因而撤回的疫苗”
事实上，ACIP成员有时推荐比食品药品监督管理局(FDA)授权技术上允许的范围更窄的疫苗用途。
甘乃迪先前声称他不会碰ACIP。今年2月，来自路易斯安那州的共和党参议员比尔·卡西迪说，在投票确认肯尼迪为HHS国务卿之前，他最初很难接受他的提名，他说，肯尼迪向他承诺ACIP不会有任何变化。
“他还承诺，他将在目前的疫苗审批和安全监测系统内工作，而不是建立平行的系统，”卡西迪当时在一份在参议院的发言。“如果得到确认，他将保持疾病控制和预防中心免疫实践咨询委员会不变。”
在…里X上的一个帖子在周一宣布这些变化后，卡西迪说，人们担心ACIP“将会充满除了怀疑之外对疫苗一无所知的人”。我刚刚与肯尼迪部长谈过，我将继续与他交谈，以确保情况不是这样。”
费城儿童医院专门研究传染病的儿科医生、FDA疫苗顾问独立小组成员保罗·奥菲特博士告诉ABC新闻，他认为周一的决定极其危险。
奥菲特说，肯尼迪“没有一个例子表明这些委员会的投票伤害了儿童”。“事实上，情况正好相反——这个委员会在过去25年里的投票让孩子们少受些苦，少死些。ACIP应该获得奖励，而不是被解雇。”
许多主要的健康倡导组织也反对这一举措。
“几代人以来，免疫实践咨询委员会(ACIP)一直是关于使用疫苗预防和控制疾病的科学和数据驱动的建议和指导的可靠国家来源……今天罢免ACIP 17名现任成员的行动破坏了这种信任，颠覆了拯救了无数生命的透明过程，”美国医学会主席Bruce A. Scott博士在一份声明中说。“用一个持续的麻疹爆发和常规儿童疫苗接种率下降，这一举措将进一步加剧疫苗可预防疾病的传播。"
前疾病预防控制中心主任曼迪·科恩博士告诉美国广播公司新闻，在终止和替换委员会成员的行动之后，她“深切关注那些试图努力保持亲人健康和安全的家庭”。“肯尼迪部长前所未有的行动传播了混乱，并对保护美国人的透明公共卫生程序产生了怀疑，”科恩说，他在拜登政府期间担任疾病预防控制中心的负责人。
罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会总裁兼首席执行官、前奥巴马政府疾病预防控制中心代理主任理查德·贝瑟博士说，肯尼迪的举动“应该可以消除任何关于他打算将个人反疫苗议程强加于美国人民的疑虑。”
肯尼迪在ACIP的宣布是一系列前所未有的举措中的最新举措，也是对传统疫苗相关宣布渠道的拒绝。
两周前，肯尼迪在X上发布的视频中宣布新冠肺炎疫苗将从疾病预防控制中心针对“健康儿童和孕妇”的免疫计划中删除
上周，一名疾病预防控制中心的官员，他共同领导了ACIP的一部分，宣布她要辞职在甘乃迪宣布改变新冠肺炎疫苗建议后。
RFK Jr. removes all 17 members of CDC's vaccine advisory committee
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday he is removing all 17 sitting members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee and replacing them with new members.
The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines.
"Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda," Kennedy said in a statement. "The public must know that unbiased science -- evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest -- guides the recommendations of our health agencies."
In apress release, HHS said the Biden administration appointed all 17 sitting ACIP members, with 13 of those appointments occurring in 2024.
The appointments meant the Trump administration would have had to wait until 2028 before choosing a majority of committee members, according to Kennedy.
Kennedy said replacing the sitting committee members would help restore public trust.
"A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science," Kennedy's statement continued. "ACIP 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."
In a separate op-ed written inThe Wall Street Journalon Monday announcing the restructuring of ACIP, Kennedy claimed that the committee was plagued by conflicts of interest.
The CDC haspublished a list of conflicts of interest declarationsdisclosed by voting members during public meetings since 2000.
Kennedy also wrote that ACIP had never recommended against a vaccine "even those later withdrawn for safety reasons."
In fact, members ACIP have at times recommended a narrower use of a vaccine than what was technically allowed by authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Kennedy had previously claimed he would not touch ACIP. In February Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, who said he had initially struggled with Kennedy's nomination for HHS secretary before voting to confirm him, said Kennedy had promised him no changes would be made to ACIP.
"He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring system and not establish parallel systems," Cassidy said at the time in aspeech on the Senate floor. "If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes."
Ina post on Xafter the changes were announced Monday, Cassidy said there is a fear the ACIP "will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case."
Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA's independent panel of vaccine advisers, told ABC News he thought the decision Monday was extremely dangerous.
Kennedy "doesn't have a single example to show where a vote by one of these committees has hurt children," Offit said. "In fact, the opposite is true -- the votes by this committee over the last 25 years have caused children to suffer less and die less. ACIP should be given awards, not fired."
Many major health advocacy organizations also pushed back on the move.
“For generations, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been a trusted national source of science- and data-driven advice and guidance on the use of vaccines to prevent and control disease … Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives," said Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, in a statement. "With anongoing measles outbreakand routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
Former CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told ABC News she was "deeply concerned for families trying to navigate how to keep their loved ones healthy and safe," following the move to terminate and replace the members of the committee. "Secretary Kennedy’s unprecedented action spreads confusion and casts doubt on transparent public health processes that protect Americans," said Cohen, who served as the head of the CDC during the Biden administration.
Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC in the Obama administration, said Kennedy's move "should erase any remaining doubt that he intends to impose his personal anti-vaccine agenda on the American people."
Kennedy's announcement on ACIP is the latest in a series of unprecedented moves and a rejection of traditional avenues for making announcements related to vaccines.
Two weeks ago, Kennedyannounced in a video posted on Xthat the COVID-19 vaccine would be removed from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and pregnant women."
Last week, a CDC official, who co-led a part of ACIP,announced she was resigningfollowing Kennedy's announcement on changing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
