Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-La., has come out critical of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s picks for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC's) vaccine advisory panel, calling for the committee’s upcoming meeting to be postponed.
Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), has remained largely reticent about the drastic reshaping that RFK Jr. has effected on the U.S.’ vaccine policies—until now.
Cassidy expressed concerns Monday on X over the eight new members whom RFK Jr. has selected to serve on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The appointments came after Kennedy abruptly purged 17 former ACIP members earlier this month.
“Although the appointees to ACIP have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology," Cassidy wrote. "In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them."
The ACIP meeting scheduled for later this week should be delayed “until the panel is fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation—as required by law—including those with more direct relevant expertise,” Cassidy added.
What’s more, the CDC currently does not have a director to approve the panel’s recommendations, Cassidy noted. Instead, RFK Jr. has signed off on some ACIP opinions without a CDC director being in place. Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the CDC, will face the Cassidy-chaired HELP Committee for a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Cassidy played a key role in advancing RFK Jr.’s nomination to the full Senate after RFK Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, had reportedly promised the senator not to disrupt existing U.S. practices on vaccines. During a floor speech in early February, Cassidy said RFK Jr. had pledged to maintain ACIP's recommendations “without changes.”
After RFK Jr.'s recent overhaul of the panel, Cassidy’s response on X was that he would continue to talk with RFK Jr. to ensure that the CDC committee wouldn’t be “filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.”
When firing the previous 17 experts, RFK Jr. cited the need for “the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda."
But among RFK Jr.’s eight new ACIP picks is Robert Malone, M.D., who once studied mRNA vaccine technology but claimed that COVID-19 vaccines are “damaging T cell responses” and “causing a form of AIDS.”
Another new member, Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., a biostatistician and epidemiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School, recently served as a paid expert witness for plaintiffs who accused Merck & Co. of concealing the risks of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, according to Reuters.
With its new members, the ACIP is slated to convene this Wednesday and Thursday with an overhauled agenda. The meeting will yield votes on infant and maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prophylactics, plus influenza vaccines, but not on the previous planned recommendation decisions surrounding COVID vaccines, adult protection against RSV and a HPV dosing schedule reduction.
In a concerning sign, the panel’s vote on flu vaccines will include a presentation on thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that has been incorrectly linked to autism, according to the agenda.
Editor's note: This story was corrected to accurately reflect Sen. Cassidy's February speech on the Senate floor.