Calls for investigation of RFK’s ‘mass firing’ of vaccine panel

A week after Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all the members of a key advisory group on vaccines, there are growing calls to reinstate the members and for an investigation.

Kennedy stunned healthcare leaders when he dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Healthcare leaders denounced the move and said the health department is making a grave mistake in ousting experts with decades of experience on vaccines. Leaders also criticized Kennedy, who has a long record of questioning the safety of vaccines, for choosing replacements sharing his views.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, said Monday that he wants an investigation into the firings. Sanders has written a letter to Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in hopes of launching a bipartisan probe.

“Secretary Kennedy’s reckless decision to fire these non-partisan scientific experts and replace them with ideologues with limited expertise and a history of undermining vaccines will not only endanger the lives of Americans of all ages, it directly contradicts a commitment he made to you before he was confirmed that he would not make any significant changes to this important Committee,” Sanders wrote.

Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and a physician, cast a critical vote that led to Kennedy’s confirmation, but he expressed some unease about the firings in a post on X last week. “Now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy wrote. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”

In his letter to Cassidy seeking an investigation, Sanders said, “This fear was well founded.” Sanders also said he wants to see “serious oversight” of Kennedy’s actions.

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Seeking an ‘immediate reversal’

The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates last week passed a resolution urging the AMA to send a letter to the Senate health committee requesting an investigation of the advisory panel’s findings.

The House of Delegates is also seeking an “immediate reversal of the recent changes” of the advisory group.

Bobby Mukkamala, MD, the new president of the American Medical Association, said the firing of the advisory group’s members undercuts efforts to protect the public.

“The AMA is deeply concerned to learn that new members have already been selected for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) without transparency and proper vetting to ensure they have the expertise necessary to make vaccine recommendations to protect the health of Americans,” Mukkamala said in a statement. “We urge the Administration to reconsider the removal of the 17 ACIP members who have deep expertise in vaccines so physicians can continue to have confidence in ACIP’s recommendations, which have for decades helped them make recommendations to patients about vaccination.”

Other physicians groups have been speaking out about the dismissals. Susan Kressly, MD, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said she was deeply troubled by the firings. “This unprecedented action, against the backdrop of contradictory announcements from the Administration in recent days about vaccines, will cause even more confusion and uncertainty for families,” Kressly said.

“We are witnessing an escalating effort by the Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines,” she said. “Creating confusion around proven vaccines endangers families' health and contributes to the spread of preventable diseases. This move undermines the trust pediatricians have built over decades with our patients and leaves us without critical scientific expertise we rely on.”

Sean O’Leary, a pediatrician who chairs the infectious disease committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a video message that the advisory group has long worked to give the best guidance and has acted independently from politics. He warned of grave consequences from the “unprecedented mass firing.”

“Their only job is to independently evaluate the science and make the medical recommendations in the best interests of all Americans,” O’Leary said, adding, “We all need to fight for ACIP to preserve its mission and its independence. Our nation and our families deserve no less.”

‘Reckless’ and ‘shortsighted’

In an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal last week, Kennedy cast the ouster of the advisory group’s members as a necessary step to restore trust in vaccines. Kennedy also said that allowing the members to finish their terms would mean that the Trump administration wouldn’t be able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028. Some members were appointed just before former President Biden left office, he said.

“The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” Kennedy wrote.

Health leaders have rejected Kennedy’s characterization of the group’s members and its work.

Tina Tam, MD, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said Kennedy’s accusations are “completely unfounded.”

“ACIP is a highly qualified group of experts that has always operated with transparency and a commitment to protecting the public’s health,” Tam said in a statement last week. “Unilaterally removing an entire panel of experts is reckless, shortsighted and severely harmful.”

Georges C. Benjamin, MD, president of the American Public Health Association, said in a statement that the fired members “are some of the most qualified individuals to evaluate vaccines. They possess deep understanding of science and were vetted for conflicts of interest prior to appointment.”

Leaders of groups representing physicians and specialists in infectious diseases have been increasingly dismayed by Kennedy’s actions since taking over as health secretary, including changing recommendations on Covid vaccines.

The federal government is no longer advising pregnant women and healthy children to get the coronavirus vaccine. Critics say they’re worried about a lack of access for those who want the shots and greater health risks to mothers and babies.

The health department recently announced that new vaccines will be tested by comparing results against a placebo, and critics say that will delay the development of vaccines.

Public health leaders have also condemned Kennedy’s cuts in staff of the health department, saying they have gone far beyond trimming administrative staff and have included the firing of key personnel. Kennedy has said the health department will reduce staffing by 20,000 people this year, representing a quarter of the HHS workforce.