RFK Jr.’s new ACIP CDC vaccine panel holds first meeting

A crucial government panel of vaccine advisors will hold its first meeting Wednesday since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed several vaccine critics to the group. 

Earlier this month, Kennedy in a stunning step removed and replaced all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The group reviews vaccine data and makes recommendations that determine who is eligible for shots and whether insurers should cover them, among other efforts.

It is unclear how Kennedy’s new members, given some of their skepticism of immunizations, will affect vaccine policy and availability in the U.S. 

During a full-day meeting Wednesday in Atlanta, the panel will evaluate data on Covid-19 vaccines and RSV shots, with a vote on recommendations for the latter. The group will convene again on Thursday to review data on shots for the flu and other diseases. 

The CDC director has to sign off on those recommendations for them to become official policy.

ACIP members are independent medical and public experts who make recommendations based on rigorous scientific review and evidence. But Kennedy’s eight new members include some well-known vaccine critics, such as Dr. Robert Malone.

Malone bills himself as having played a key role in the creation of mRNA vaccines, but has gained a large following for making baseless and disproven claims about Covid-19 shots. 

Another new member, Retsef Levi, has pushed to stop giving mRNA vaccines, falsely claiming in a post on X that they cause “serious harm including death, especially among young people.” 

The meeting on Wednesday will begin at 10 a.m. ET.