Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced eight new members to the CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices on Wednesday, just two days after he removed all 17 sitting members.
Kennedy announced on X that he is appointing Joseph R. Hibbeln, MD; Martin Kulldorff, MD, Ph.D.; Retsef Levi, Ph.D.; Robert W. Malone, MD; Cody Meissner, MD; James Pagano, MD; Vicky Pebsworth, OP, Ph.D., RN and Michael A. Ross, MD.
top (left to right): Joseph Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Cody Meissner, James Pagano
Bottom: Retsef Levi, Robert Malone, Michael Ross, Vicky Pebsworth
About the new members
Joseph R. Hibbeln, MD, is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who worked on nutritional neurosciences at the NIH.
Martin Kulldorff, MD, Ph.D., is a biostatistician an epidemiologist. He served as an expert witness for plaintiffs who accused Merck of concealing the risks of Gardasil, a vaccine for the prevention of cancers caused by HPV. He also co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, calling on public health officials to roll back COVID lockdowns. The declaration claimed that the lockdowns were “producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.” The declaration called for an approach that “balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity” by allowing “those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection.”
Retsef Levi, Ph.D., is a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 2023, he posted a video on X claiming that COVID vaccines “completely failed to fulfill any of their advertised promises regarding efficacy” and that they cause “an unprecedented level of harm, including death, of young people and children.”
Robert W. Malone, MD, is a physician and biochemist. During the COVID pandemic, Malone claimed that people were “hypnotized” into believing ideas about COVID, including vaccination. He also claimed that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could worsen COVID infections.
Cody Meissner, MD, is Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Tufts Children’s Hospital. He has served as a member of the HHS Tick-borne Diseases Working Group. He also signed the Great Barrington Declaration advocating against COVID lockdowns. He also opposed COVID vaccines for children and mask mandates.
James Pagano, MD, is an emergency medicine physician with over 20 years of experience. He is the author of The Drain, a novel about an ER doctor.
Vicky Pebsworth, OP, Ph.D., RN, is the Pacific region director of the National Association of Catholic Nurses. She has served on the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. She claims that her son experienced health issues due to vaccinations.
Michael A. Ross, MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Breast and Cervical Cancer.
Reactions from public health and medical organizations
When the removal of the ACIP members was announced, the American Medical Association’s president Bruce Scott stated: “Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives.” BBC also quoted Scott voicing concern about the ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, saying “this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
The American College of Physicians President Jason Goldman criticized the process, saying “The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust, and contributes to confusion and uncertainty.”
Individual experts weigh in
Professor Dorit Reiss from UC Law San Francisco, who studies vaccine policy, stated that “Kennedy did not pick people with strong, current expertise in vaccines,” per NPR.
Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a former ACIP member, said “RFK Jr. has for 20 years shown you who he is. And nothing has happened since he’s been secretary of HHS to make you feel any differently.” He also expressed concern that Kennedy “may be bringing in people who are like-minded to him,” according to STAT reporting following the news of the initial ACIP departures.
Tom Frieden, MD, former CDC director, called the news “a dangerous and unprecedented action that makes our families less safe” and said “We’ll look back at this as a grave mistake that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor, undermined public trust, and opened the door for fringe theories rather than facts to guide the recommendations that doctors rely on to protect patients.”
Supporters’ views
In contrast, David Mansdoerfer, former deputy assistant secretary for HHS in the first Trump administration, called it “a huge win for the medical freedom movement” on X. He said “they did everything by the book to put together this excellent slate of appointees.”
Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (the group founded by Kennedy), praised the move on X saying it “opens the doors for honest science.”
Filed Under: Immunology
