Richard H. Hughes, IV, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, co-authored an article in Health Affairs, titled “Vaccine Policy in Crisis: Secretary Kennedy Dismisses Entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.”
Following is an excerpt:
In the latest of a series of actions to fundamentally disrupt the status quo and undermine vaccine policy in the United States, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced on Monday, June 9, the removal of all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). He did so in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. His unprecedented action is under intense scrutiny given what it tells us about the future of scientific expertise in shaping US vaccine policy.
The Secretary frames his decision not as an attack on vaccines but as a necessary step to address a “crisis of public trust.” He argues that declining confidence in public health agencies is not the result of misinformation but rather stems from systemic issues within the vaccine regulatory apparatus itself. He further asserts that the previous system was plagued by conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies, a history of persecuting dissenting voices and a reliance on skewed science. The removal of all 17 current committee members, he has claimed, is the first step in a broader effort to restore scientific integrity and public confidence in the nation’s vaccine programs.
Secretary Kennedy’s actions contradict his previous direct assurances to Senators during the confirmation process. In choosing to vote for Kennedy’s confirmation, Senator Bill Cassidy recited a list of commitments made by the nominee, among which was Kennedy’s assurance that he would “maintain the [ACIP] without changes”. That assurance apparently extended to committee membership in Cassidy’s view, since the Senator has now expressed concerns over whether, in the wake of these dismissals, the Secretary will fill the panel with vaccine skeptics rather than individuals possessing true scientific expertise.
Kennedy’s move comes on the heels of a direct legislative countermeasure to the administration's recent actions. Only days ago, on June 5, Ranking House Energy and Commerce Committee minority member Frank Pallone, along with Representative Kim Schrier, introduced the Family Vaccine Protection Act, which aims to safeguard the integrity of ACIP and its central role in the development of a rational US vaccine policy by insulating the body against political interference. The bill would do so by for the first time codifying ACIP’s structure and responsibilities into law and especially importantly, by establishing a formal and transparent process of Secretarial review of its recommendations. In short, the bill has been designed to create a high, evidence-based bar for changes to the ACIP.
In the face of this effort to bring even greater reasonableness to the ACIP process and ensure greater confidence in its recommendations, the HHS Secretary has chosen to call the very future of the body into question. His actions threaten to derail the work of a distinguished 61-year-old body of physicians, scientists, parents, and public health experts, whose efforts have guided the nation’s most important advances in vaccine policy.
