HHS Secretary Kennedy dismissed all 17 ACIP members and replaced them with political selections
On June 9, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices via a press release and a simultaneous Wall Street Journal op-ed, characterizing them as conflicted and as last-minute Biden appointees. ACIP is the independent federal advisory body whose vaccine recommendations are adopted by the CDC and followed by pediatricians and public health agencies nationwide. Kennedy announced eight replacement members on June 11, 2025; the replacement panel, described by observers as less credentialed than its predecessor, voted 8-3 at its inaugural September 2025 meeting to delay routine administration of the MMRV childhood vaccine — the first change to the immunization schedule under Kennedy's HHS.
Actors
On June 9, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced via press release and a simultaneous Wall Street Journal op-ed that he had dismissed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. ACIP is a Congress-chartered independent federal advisory body; its vaccine recommendations are adopted by the CDC and form the national immunization schedule followed by pediatricians and public health agencies across the country. Removing the entire panel at once was described by public health experts as unprecedented in the committee's history.
Kennedy characterized the dismissed members as "plagued by conflicts of interest" and referred to many as "last-minute appointees" of the Biden administration, asserting that without the mass dismissal his administration could not appoint a majority of new members until 2028. Former ACIP members and public health officials disputed the conflict-of-interest allegations, noting that committee members are required to disclose conflicts before votes and must recuse themselves from relevant deliberations. Kennedy announced eight replacement members on June 11, 2025, and appointed additional members in subsequent months; observers and STAT News described the new cohort as less credentialed than the panel it replaced.
The replacement panel convened for the first time in September 2025. At that inaugural meeting, on September 18, 2025, it voted 8–3 to delay routine administration of the MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella) combination vaccine from the standard 12–15 months to age 4 — the first change to the childhood immunization schedule under Kennedy's HHS, adopted without the independent peer-review process the prior committee embodied. The September 2025 MMRV vote is separately recorded in the Standing Record.
Why we recorded this
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is the independent federal advisory body charged by Congress with evidence-based review of vaccine schedules; its recommendations are adopted by the CDC and become the national immunization schedule followed by pediatricians and public health agencies across the country. By summarily dismissing all 17 sitting scientists — experts drawn from infectious disease, pediatrics, epidemiology, and public health — and replacing them with political selections, HHS Secretary Kennedy converted an independent scientific governance body into an instrument of administration policy. The precedent is not a single personnel decision but a demonstration that Congress-chartered scientific advisory committees can be cleared and restaffed at a secretary's discretion whenever their expected findings are politically inconvenient.
Sources
- RFK Jr. removes all members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee — NPR primary accessed June 27, 2026
- RFK Jr. fires every member of CDC vaccine expert panel, ACIP — STAT News primary accessed June 27, 2026
- HHS Takes Bold Step to Restore Public Trust in Vaccines by Reconstituting ACIP — HHS primary accessed June 27, 2026
See also
- RFK Jr.-appointed ACIP panel voted 8-3 to delay routine MMRV childhood vaccine, first change to immunization schedule
- HHS de-recognized union contracts at CDC, FDA, and other agencies, stripping collective bargaining rights
- HHS directed NIAID to terminate Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development funding, ending $258M federal HIV vaccine program
- SAMHSA ended 988 Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling option, cutting crisis service for high-risk youth
- HHS canceled Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants, redirected $67M to 'parental rights' and 'body literacy' competitions