Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that the department will replace all members of the advisory panel responsible for providing guidance on vaccines, a move health experts say is unprecedented.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, develops recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines to control disease in the general population. ACIP members include experts in medicine and public health, and the CDC determines its own guidance based on ACIP’s recommendations.
“A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Kennedy said in a statement, announcing he removed the 17 sitting members on the panel and will replace them with new appointees who are already under consideration.
