The U.S. Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has appointed eight new members to a committee of vaccination advisors. Among them are experts who have spoken out against vaccinations.
Kennedy had dismissed seventeen experts from that panel on Monday because he wanted to assemble a new committee himself. He has now started doing so.
The scientific committee must advise which vaccines should be included in the vaccination program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and who should receive these shots. This determines, among other things, the coverage of health insurance.
The committee needs at least eight members to be able to do its work. Four of the new members are individuals who have previously worked on committees of the CDC, the American drug watchdog FDA, or both.
The other four have published articles or posted messages on social media in which they cite anti-vaccination positions. This also concerns mRNA vaccination technology that is used in the latest vaccines, such as those against corona.
Kennedy was a well-known anti-vaxxer before being appointed minister
Kennedy was one of the most well-known American anti-vaxxers before President Donald Trump appointed him as Secretary of Health. Health experts warned at the time about the consequences of that choice. They fear that Kennedy could reduce support for vaccines.
For years, he spread conspiracy theories about vaccines, such as the claim that they cause autism. Scientists have refuted that claim several times with studies.
Kennedy had promised on Tuesday that he would not appoint any “ideological anti-vaccination supporters”. But experts in the field of vaccines and infectious diseases accuse him of not keeping his word with these new appointments.
Some new members spread disinformation
Robert Malone is the most controversial new committee member. The New York Times writes that he previously promoted conspiracy theories and unproven treatments against corona, such as ivermectin hydroxychloroquine. He claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized to take corona vaccines and suggested that the vaccines cause a form of AIDS.
Other controversial appointees include Retsef Levi, who previously called for the end of the corona vaccination program, and Vicky Pebsworth. Pebsworth is the voluntary director of the National Vaccine Information Center, a group widely regarded as a major source of misinformation about vaccines.
Kennedy said earlier this week that the dismissal of the seventeen experts was necessary “to restore confidence in the knowledge about vaccines.” According to him, the committee was “plagued by conflicts of interest” and any vaccine was blindly approved.
It is still unclear which conflicts he is referring to. Vaccination committees have a strict policy for potential conflicts of interest. There is a reporting obligation for this.