US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has broadened the terms of the country’s vaccine advisory committee in an apparent move to circumvent a judge’s ruling that his appointees lacked the requisite experience to serve as the country’s immunisation advisors.

The new charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website last week.

Instead of requiring vaccine-related expertise, the new terms simply require that “members shall collectively represent a balanced range of scientific, clinical, and public health expertise relevant to the committee’s mission”. 

A day earlier, US Senator Bernie Sanders released 253 pages of emails showing how Kennedy’s Health and Human Services (HHS) staff pressured CDC officials to influence the country’s vaccine policies. ACIP advises the CDC on vaccines.

One of the emails from Matthew Buckham, Kennedy’s chief of staff (19 August 2025), to then CDC Director Susan Monarez stated “the absolute need for political review of major decisions at CDC”.

An email from CDC staffer Nicole Coffin (14 February 2025) reveals that HHS communications director Andrew Nixon “asked that we pull out of circulation all campaign ad buys related to flu or anything encouraging shots or vaccinations. He said this request came directly from the secretary.” 

The emails also reveal Kennedy’s influence over ACIP, including his removal of members without the required consultation with the CDC and his control over the committee’s agenda, particularly to review hepatitis B and multi-dose flu vaccines for pregnant women and children, the reintroduction of a seven-year review and biannual report on vaccines, and review of the definition of vaccines (19 May 2025).

In March, US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that the January changes to the vaccination schedule and Kennedy’s firing of all 17 ACIP members are likely to have violated the Administrative Procedure Act. 

Murphy also issued three temporary stays: on Kennedy’s appointment of 13 new ACIP members, mostly vaccine sceptics; changes to the vaccination schedule, and all decisions of the Kennedy-appointed ACIP. These stays will be in place until Murphy can rule on a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other medical organisations against Kennedy’s “unilateral changes” to vaccinations for children and pregnant women.

Tighter control over science

Meanwhile, the Trump administration also plans to further tighten its control over scientific grants, placing them under the control of politicians and their appointees.

The proposed changes to US government support for scientific research is being pushed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is headed by former Heritage Foundation leader Russell Vought.

According to the proposed rule change, politicians and their appointees will be able to decide on funding without the advice of scientists, stop it at will and limit or prevent partnerships with other countries.

In a note explaining the proposed change, the OMB claims that “far-left activists hijacked the critical work done by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was established to respond to the AIDS crisis in Africa. Due to wasteful spending, PEPFAR became a left-wing foreign aid entitlement that attempted to promote abortion and gender ideology”. 

However, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine noted in a recent editorial: “Giving political appointees ultimate authority to determine federal grant funding, as proposed by the OMB, would politicise and weaken biomedical research.

“Expert, independent peer review of grant applications is essential for directing NIH dollars to research that has the greatest potential for advancing science and improving health. Selecting the most promising research is an enormously complex and challenging undertaking, but over the past 70 years, scientific advances achieved with rigorous methods in clinical trials have improved quality of life, transformed human health, and extended life expectancies.”

The proposal is open for public comment until 13 July, and the OMB intends to issue a final rule by 1 October.

Image Credits: HHS.