The New Vaccination Canon – How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Reshaping the CDC’s Immunization Panel and Breaking a Medical Taboo

Atlanta, June 25, 2025 – It was a premiere under high tension. For the first time, the newly appointed vaccination committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) met on Wednesday – under the leadership of a man who spent decades positioning himself as an opponent of established immunization programs: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The setting: a bare conference room in Atlanta. The impact: a tectonic rupture in the public health system of the United States. Even before the committee had a chance to begin deliberations, the direction had already been set. Kennedy had summarily dismissed all 17 previous members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The new appointments now consist largely of vaccine skeptics, including well-known figures such as Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Martin Kulldorff. The latter opened the meeting with a speech that came across as both professionally polished and ideologically saturated – a style symptomatic of the new orientation. The agenda was explosive: Kennedy had already announced in advance that COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women – a step that has drawn sharp criticism. No official vote on the matter was scheduled. However, the CDC had prepared internal documentation clearly stating that vaccinations during pregnancy are the most effective protection for infants under six months of age – the age group that remains particularly at risk. Recent months’ data also show that the majority of hospitalized children were unvaccinated. The numbers speak clearly, but the new political line drowns them out.

At the same time, another resignation caused a stir: gynecologist Dr. Michael Ross resigned shortly before the meeting began – allegedly due to a “routine review of financial interests.” As a result, the committee shrank to just seven members – a symbolically charged decline of a scientific body that had set immunization standards in the U.S. for decades and held significant influence internationally. The American Academy of Pediatrics reacted swiftly: during the meeting, it announced that it would publish its own immunization schedule going forward, independent of ACIP. The reasoning: the process is “no longer credible.” Words that come across as both a badge of honor for science – and a vote of no confidence in the government. The session revealed a fundamental dilemma in the new U.S. health policy: expertise is being replaced by ideology, discussion by distrust, public health by political identity. In a hearing before the House of Representatives, Kennedy aggressively defended his approach. The old panel, he claimed, was “a textbook case of medical malpractice.” Democratic Representative Kim Schrier, herself a pediatrician, responded with biting clarity: “I will hold you accountable for every single vaccine-preventable cause of death.”

The second day’s agenda also included protective measures against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) – an infection particularly dangerous for infants. Back in 2023, the CDC had introduced preventive measures for newborns and pregnant women that demonstrably reduced mortality rates. But how to proceed with new recommendations remained unclear. A new antibody therapy was also presented – though the exact voting text remained under wraps until the last moment. On Thursday, the topic of influenza vaccines is also scheduled – a subject that had been treated routinely in the past. But this time, everything is different. Kennedy and some of his supporters have previously linked the preservative thimerosal in these vaccines to autism – a long-debunked myth that is widely cited in scientific circles as a textbook example of misinformation. The CDC published a new meta-study on the occasion of the session, again ruling out any link to neurological disorders. And yet, even that no longer seems to suffice. What was once consensus is now contested. Recommendations that were previously based on medical evidence must now survive ideological scrutiny. ACIP recommendations have traditionally formed the basis for insurance coverage and nationwide vaccine programs – but the CDC currently has no director. As a result, all proposals now go directly to Kennedy – and he has already ignored several recommendations from April. Susan Monarez, his preferred candidate for the vacant CDC directorship, appeared before a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Her evasions on key questions regarding scientific integrity left little room for hope of independence. The shift is no longer merely perceptible – it is systemic. The U.S. public health service is being ideologically restructured under the guise of reform – and millions of Americans may end up paying the price.