US President Donald Trump speaks as US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (C), and US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon look on during a MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Commission Event / AFP

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced he was dismissing all current members of a key federal vaccine advisory panel, accusing them of conflicts of interest -- his latest salvo against the nation's immunization policies.

The removal of all 17 experts of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was revealed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and an official press release.

Kennedy, who has spent two decades promoting vaccine misinformation, cast the move as essential to restoring public trust, claiming the committee had been compromised by financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.

"Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda," he said in a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services.

"The public must know that unbiased science -- evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest — guides the recommendations of our health agencies."

In his op-ed, Kennedy claimed the panel was "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest" and had become "little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine."

He added that new members were being considered to replace those ousted -- all of whom were appointed under former president Joe Biden. 

ACIP members are chosen for their recognized expertise and are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest.

"RFK Jr. and the Trump administration are taking a wrecking ball to the programs that keep Americans safe and healthy," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in response. 

"Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion," Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who expressed concern about Kennedy's track record during his Senate nomination but ultimately voted in his favor, wrote on X.

"I've just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I'll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case."

- 'Silencing expertise' -

The decision drew sharp criticism from Paul Offit, a pediatrician and leading expert on virology and immunology who served on the panel from 1998 to 2003.

"He believes that anybody who speaks well of vaccines, or recommends vaccines, must be deeply in the pocket of industry," Offit told AFP. "He's fixing a problem that doesn't exist."

"We are witnessing an escalating effort by the Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines," added Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement.

Once a celebrated environmental lawyer, Kennedy pivoted from the mid-2000s to public health -- chairing a nonprofit that discouraged routine childhood immunizations and amplified false claims, including the long-debunked theory that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism.

Since taking office, he has curtailed access to Covid-19 shots and continued to raise fears around the MMR vaccine -- even as the United States faces its worst measles outbreak in years, with three reported deaths and more than 1,100 confirmed cases.

Experts warn the true case count is likely far higher.

"How can this country have confidence that the people RFK Jr. wants on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices are people we can trust?" Offit asked.

He recalled that during US President Donald Trump's first term, several states formed independent vaccine advisory panels after the administration pressured federal health agencies to prematurely approve Covid-19 vaccines ahead of the 2020 election. 

That kind of fragmentation, Offit warned, could happen again.

ACIP is scheduled to hold its next meeting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta from June 25 to June 27.

Vaccines for anthrax, Covid-19, human papillomavirus, influenza, Lyme disease, respiratory syncytial virus, and more are on the agenda.

ia/jgc