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RFK Jr. removes all 17 members of vaccine advisory committee

HHS Secretary RFK Jr. removes all 17 CDC vaccine advisory panel members, sparking industry concerns over vaccine policy, patient access and public trust.

Alivia Kaylor, MSc
By
Published: 10 Jun 2025

In a sweeping and unprecedented decision, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all 17 sitting members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the 60-year-old federal body responsible for developing U.S. vaccine recommendations.

The move, announced June 9, is being portrayed by the administration as a step toward restoring "public trust" in vaccines, but instead, it has prompted sharp backlash from industry experts.

The reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) follows President Trump's "Restoring Gold Standard Science" executive order, which directs HHS to insulate scientific decision-making from perceived conflicts of interest and political bias.

"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."

Kennedy added that the ACIP overhaul is necessary to "reestablish public confidence in vaccine science," pledging that newly appointed members would reflect "a diversity of expertise and independence."

Removed ACIP members

The 17 sitting committee members removed include the following: Helen K. Talbot, MD, MPH; Edwin Jose Asturias, MD; Noel T. Brewer, PhD; Oliver Brooks, MD, FAAP; Lin H. Chen, MD, FACP, FASTMH, FISTM; Helen Y. Chu, MD, MPH, FIDSA; Sybil Cineas, MD, FAAP, FACP; Denise J. Jamieson, MD, MPH; Mini Kamboj, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA; George Kuchel, MD CM, FRCP, AGSF, FGSA, FAAAS; Jamie Loehr, MD, FAAFP; Karyn Lyons, MS, RN; Yvonne (Bonnie) Maldonado, MD; Charlotte A. Moser, MS; Robert Schechter, MD, MSc; Albert C. Shaw, MD, PhD, FIDSA; and Jane R. Zucker, MD, MSc, FIDSA.

Although no one has been publicly named, the complete panel dismissal allows Kennedy, who is a long-time vaccine skeptic, to appoint all new members.

Industry concerns

The abrupt overhaul follows events that have intensified vaccine safety concerns among public health experts and industry leaders. Earlier this month, Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, MD, a co-leader of a CDC working group that advises outside experts on COVID-19 vaccines, resigned after Kennedy unilaterally issued new framework recommendations that preempted the committee’s expected COVID-19 vaccine guidance.

Before the sitting members' firings, Chair Talbot and four other ACIP members, including Brooks, Cineas, Loehr and Lyone, were set to rotate off at the end of this month but were informed that their required special government employee status had been terminated early, leaving behind 13 members appointed last year under Biden's administration.

Without their removal, the Trump administration would have had to wait until 2028 to select a majority of new members, and experts warn that sidelining ACIP could erode decades of trust in the advisory process.

"Politicizing the [ACIP] under the guise of depoliticizing it will undermine public trust in a process essential to fighting disease," Former CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, told Axios.

Bruce A. Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, echoed that concern in a press release. "The removal of the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives," he said.

Meanwhile, others went further. "This is a coup," Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said in a news release. "It's an assault on the science-based, independent review that has defined ACIP for decades."

Industry implications

Without a functioning ACIP, upcoming votes on COVID-19 boosters, RSV vaccines and meningococcal conjugates could be delayed, complicating FDA alignment, CDC contracting and launch timelines.

Payers also depend on ACIP recommendations to guide federally mandated vaccine coverage. Any gap or erosion of trust in the process risks inconsistent coverage decisions and could disrupt pricing and market access strategies.

Although HHS has not provided a timeline for appointing new members, the next ACIP meeting is scheduled for June 25–27 at the CDC headquarters. It remains unclear whether it will proceed with a fully reconstituted panel.

"With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses," Scott warned in the press release.

Alivia Kaylor is a scientist and the senior site editor of Pharma Life Sciences.

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