RFK Jr. rewrites CDC panel's charter, opening door to anti-vaccine quacks

Following a courtroom defeat, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. rewrote the charter of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), broadening its membership criteria, increasing its focus on potential vaccine harms, and empowering his allies — in an apparent effort to sidestep the legal challenge that had left his prior appointments in limbo. The new charter broadens member qualifications to allow the inclusion of Kennedy allies and echoes vaccine-critical language by directing the panel to study "gaps in vaccine safety research" and consider the "cumulative effects" of childhood shots — issues critics say are already settled science. The updated charter also grants non-voting liaison roles to organizations such as the Independent Medical Alliance, Physicians for Informed Consent, and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons — groups that maintain vaccine risks are underreported and that vaccine benefits may not outweigh their harms.

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Source: industry