Anti-vaccine advocate RFK Jr. fires entire CDC panel of vaccine advisors
arstechnica.com

... Anti-vaccine advocate and current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken the extraordinary action of firing all 17 vaccine experts on a federal committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on immunization practices.

In an opinion piece published Monday in The Wall Street Journal, Kennedy announced that he had cleared out the committee, accusing them of being "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest" and a group that has "become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine."

"Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028," Kennedy added. ...

Announcing a restructuring of federal health guidance processes via an op-ed in a newspaper is also unusual.

In Kennedy's article, he criticized ACIP and FDA advisors for being in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry. However, he argued that the "problem isn't necessarily that ACIP members are corrupt."

"Most likely aim to serve the public interest as they understand it," he wrote. "The problem is their immersion in a system of industry-aligned incentives and paradigms that enforce a narrow pro-industry orthodoxy."

Kennedy, who is currently trying to shift the national attention to his idea of clean living and higher-quality foods, has a long history of advocating against vaccines, spreading misinformation and disinformation about the lifesaving shots. However, a clearer explanation of Kennedy's war on vaccines can be found in his rejection of germ theory. In his 2021 book that vilifies infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, he bemoaned germ theory as "the pharmaceutical paradigm that emphasized targeting particular germs with specific drugs rather than fortifying the immune system through healthy living, clean water, and good nutrition." ...

Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic
www.scrippsnews.com

... U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week.

They include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, and a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns.

Kennedy's decision to "retire" the previous 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors' groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy's desire to reassess -- and possibly end -- longstanding vaccination recommendations. ...