Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired every member of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel in a sweeping move he says is meant to restore public trust, but critics are calling it reckless and radical.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had been plagued by conflicts of interest, rubber-stamp behavior, and opaque decision-making for decades - and that only a “clean sweep” could fix it.

The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine. It has never recommended against a vaccine—even those later withdrawn for safety reasons. It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women. To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust. -RFK Jr.

The 17-member ACIP panel - made up of independent scientists, doctors, and public health professionals - was scheduled to meet later this month to review recommendations, including those involving COVID-19 vaccinations for children. That meeting will still go ahead, but without the current panelists, some of whom Kennedy said were 'last-minute Biden appointees' whose terms would have otherwise extended until 2028.

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

Kennedy’s defenders say this is exactly the kind of bold move needed to break the credibility crisis surrounding vaccine science and government health agencies. The new appointees, he pledged, “won’t directly work for the vaccine industry” and will “refuse to serve as a rubber stamp,” instead fostering “a culture of critical inquiry”.

But critics say the move reeks of ideology and raises fears that Kennedy will stack the committee with vaccine skeptics or unqualified appointees, further eroding trust.

“Firing experts that have spent their entire lives protecting kids from deadly disease is not reform — it’s reckless, radical, and rooted in conspiracy, not science,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a scathing statement.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who said Kennedy had pledged to leave ACIP intact during confirmation talks, posted on X that he was now concerned about who would replace the experts.

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy wrote.

Kennedy, however, insists this isn’t about ideology — it’s about transparency, independence, and restoring the public’s faith in an institution that once commanded global respect.

“In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators,” Kennedy wrote. “Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back.”

Whether the public sees this as reform or a purge, one thing is clear: the Trump administration is moving fast to reshape America’s health bureaucracy — and no sacred cow is safe.