ACP, AMA, parents’ group criticize ACIP replacement vaccine advisers, RFK Jr.’s selection process

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Two major physician groups and an organization for parents expressed their doubts about new appointees of a leading national vaccine advisory board.

This week, 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) were fired by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Two days later he announced eight new members who would replace them in time for the panel’s meeting later this month.

Kennedy said a major change on ACIP was needed to restore public trust above any pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine agenda. Health advocates said the purge was harmful, not helpful, to public confidence in vaccines, and the process to replace the members is much the same. Leaders of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Medical Association (AMA) and the advocacy group MomsRising issued statements questioning Kennedy’s new vaccine advisers.

Leaders at the American College of Physicians (ACP) are “greatly concerned” with the appointees and the process to pick them, said a statement from ACP President Jason Goldman, MD, MACP.

“The usual ACIP committee process requires rigorous vetting, disclosures of interest and should involve physicians and scientists with extensive background in vaccine research and medicine,” Goldman’s statement said. “The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust, and contributes to confusion and uncertainty.

“We ask the secretary to halt these actions, restore the previous committee members, and have a more transparent process moving forward to address any concerns,” he said.

AMA President Bobby M. Mukkamala, MD, echoed those concerns in a statement.

“The AMA is deeply concerned to learn that new members have already been selected for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without transparency and proper vetting to ensure they have the expertise necessary to make vaccine recommendations to protect the health of Americans,” he said. “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.

“We will closely monitor the developments of ACIP and encourage the Administration to recommit to maintaining vaccine access for all Americans,” he said.

MomsRising President Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner issued a statement, “Shame on RFK,” saying that group was “alarmed and disgusted” at the removal of ACIP members — “and that some of the replacements he is appointing are dangerous conspiracy theorists who are unfit to shape public health.”

“America’s moms count on this committee, and our federal government, for trustworthy guidance based on the best scientific evidence about how to keep our children safe and healthy,” Rowe-Finkbeiner said. “Because of how the secretary is reshaping this key committee, that resource is now gone.

“We are already seeing the harm Secretary Kennedy and other vaccine skeptics are causing in the devastating measles outbreak that is sickening so many children and has claimed three lives,” she said. “Secretary Kennedy has no medical or scientific degree. Replacing scientific experts with fringe conspiracy theorists like him, who traffic in dangerous misinformation, will put our children in grave and unnecessary peril. Shame on Secretary Kennedy for prioritizing politics over our children’s health.”