RFK Jr.'s Overhauled Vaccine Panel Loses a Member

Just as its first meeting under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to begin, a newly restructured federal vaccine advisory panel has lost one of its new members. The New York Times reports one of the eight members Kennedy installed two weeks ago after firing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices—the panel that helps set vaccine guidelines in the US—is out. Dr. Michael Ross, a former professor of obstetrics and gynecology who's licensed in Virginia, no longer appears among the list of voting members on the CDC's site.

No official reason was given for his departure, but a Health and Human Services rep said Ross stepped down during the required financial review for new members. The spokesperson thanked Ross for engaging in a "rigorous process." The revamped panel is scheduled to begin a two-day meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday. As NPR explains, it's one of three annual meetings the committee holds "to discuss and vote on how vaccines, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, should be used to protect public health."

Some lawmakers have voiced concerns about the makeup of the committee; many members "don't have deep, current expertise in vaccines," reports NPR, and some have expressed doubts about vaccines. GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy on Monday pushed for a delay in the meeting, writing on X that it should be postponed "until the panel is fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation—as required by law—including those with more direct relevant expertise." However, the meeting is expected to proceed, with some agenda items touching on long-settled vaccine controversies. One example: a vote on certain flu vaccines that include thimerosal, a preservative incorrectly linked to autism by Kennedy and others.