Kennedy last week announced he would "retire" the entire panel that guides U.S. vaccine policy. He also quietly removed Dr. Melinda Wharton — the veteran Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who coordinated the committee's meetings.

The 17 members of a federal vaccine advisory committee, who were ousted last week, argued their abrupt dismissal has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened." The group, speaking collectively for the first time since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.

Just two days after retiring the entirety of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed several prominent critics of the government’s Covid-19 response to that committee.