Chelsea Cirruzzo , 2025-06-23 23:40:00
WASHINGTON — A key Senate health leader is calling for this week’s meeting of the panel of vaccine advisers handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be delayed, citing their lack of experience and potential bias against some vaccines.
“Although the appointees to [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology. In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wrote on the social media site X Monday evening.
Cassidy’s comments — including that the panel’s upcoming meeting be canceled until it is “fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation” — represent the harshest condemnation of Kennedy’s actions by the senator, who ultimately cast the key vote that secured Kennedy’s confirmation.
HHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cassidy, a physician who has stridently backed vaccines, has previously largely deflected questions about Kennedy’s moves related to vaccines. For instance, after Kennedy fired the previous members of ACIP, Cassidy said he was working to ensure the panel wouldn’t be filled with people “who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.”
The lawmaker, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, agreed to advance Kennedy out of committee and to the Senate floor based on promises Kennedy had made to him not to alter existing vaccine approval processes.
Yet, since becoming secretary, Kennedy has taken unprecedented action to shake up the public health apparatus, including dismissing the 17 members of the ACIP panel, which tells the government which vaccines to recommend to the public, earlier this month. He claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that their ties to the pharmaceutical industry had damaged public trust.
Just days later, Kennedy announced a smaller committee, which includes some members who have made anti-vaccine statements and others with little-to-no experience on vaccines.
The panel is expected to meet starting Wednesday to discuss vaccines including the Covid-19 and RSV shots and vote on vaccine recommendations.
Cassidy said Monday that a larger panel with “more direct relevant expertise” is required by law and noted that there’s no Senate-confirmed CDC director yet to approve the recommendations.
“Otherwise, ACIP’s recommendations could be viewed with skepticism, which will work against the success of this Administration’s efforts,” he wrote.
