Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has selected seven new experts that he plans to nominate to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the panel that issues recommendations on vaccine use in the U.S.
The seven potential nominees were identified in internal documents at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Jeremy Faust, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, was first to report the list Wednesday in his Substack blog “Inside Medicine.”
Of the seven new advisors, at least three have questioned the safety of mRNA vaccines, according to Politico. It is unclear whether the new nominees will be added by the time the ACIP next meets Sept. 18. During that meeting, the group plans to discuss recommendations for vaccines including those for flu, chikungunya and anthrax.
“You will hear it from us when there are new members to announce,” an HHS spokesperson said in an email.
Among those reported to be on the nomination list are New Orleans emergency room specialist Joseph Fraiman, M.D., who in social media posts has been a critic of mRNA COVID vaccines. Hawaii pediatric cardiologist Kirk Milhoan, M.D., Ph.D., who is a senior fellow at the anti-mRNA Independent Medical Alliance, is also named in the reports.
Also among the reported nominees is Catherine Stein, Ph.D., an infectious disease researcher at Case Western Reserve University, who came under fire during the pandemic as a “COVID truther" as she called for a halt to vaccine mandates at colleges.
Other potential nominees are Baton Rouge obstetrician and gynecologist Evelyn Griffin, M.D., Nashville pharmacist Hillary Blackburn. pediatric neurologist John Gaitanis, M.D., and Raymond Pollak, M.D., according to the reports.
Three months ago, RFK Jr. wiped the ACIP clean, removing all 17 sitting members and replacing them with hand-picked nominees, some of whom have voiced their anti-vaccine views.
News of RFK Jr.’s list of planned nominees comes after one of his prominent critics, Paul Offit, M.D., was removed from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, an expert panel that also helps direct vaccine policy in the U.S.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an anti-vaccine activist who has these fixed, immutable, science-resistant beliefs that vaccines are dangerous,” Offit told CNN last month following the HHS’ resurrection of a childhood vaccine safety task force.
For his part, RFK Jr. has blasted Offit over alleged conflicts of interest around the oral rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq. Offit has contested those claims.
In addition, last week, CDC Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D was fired less than a month after her confirmation, triggering other leaders in the agency to resign from their roles in protest. According to her lawyers, Monarez was targeted because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”
Thursday, 22 medical and public health organizations demanded that RFK Jr. step down from his position, citing what they called his efforts to “undermine science and public health.” Additionally, roughly 1,000 former and current HHS staffers have called for RFK Jr.’s resignation, warning that he “continues to endanger the nation’s health.”