(Washington) US Secretary for Health Robert Kennedy JR announced on Monday to dismiss all of the 17 experts in an important advisory group on vaccines, accusing them of interest conflicts, a new blow by Donald Trump administration to the country’s vaccination policy.
This decision to refer experts from the advisory committee to vaccination practices was announced in a forum Wall Street Journalas well as in a press release.
Robert Kennedy Jr (RFK) believes that this revision of the composition of the panel is essential to restore public confidence, accusing the group of experts of being compromised by financial links with pharmaceutical companies.
“Today, we give priority to the restoration of public confidence rather than any professional or anti-vaccine program,” wrote Mr. Kennedy, notoriously skeptical about the effectiveness of vaccines.
“The public should know that the recommendations of our health agencies are based on impartial scientific data, assessed within the framework of a transparent process and out of interest conflicts,” he adds.
In his gallery, RFK claims that the group of experts is “undermined by conflicts of persistent interests” and that it only became “only a simple recording chamber for any vaccine”.
He indicates that new members will replace outgoing experts. The latter had been appointed because of their recognized expertise and they were normally required to disclose any conflicts of interest upstream.
RFK has been promoting disinformation on vaccines for two decades, in particular the largely denied assertion that the measles vaccine, mumps and rubella (Ror) is the cause of autism.
Since its entry into office, it has reduced access to the Vaccines against COVID-19 and has continued to sow doubt on the ROR vaccine, even though the United States has experienced its worst measles epidemic for years, with three reported deaths and more than 1,100 cases identified, a figure which, according to experts, could largely underestimate the real report.
