Purging of CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a virtual press conference on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s unprecedented decision on Monday to fire every single member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Dr. Helen Chu joined Senator Murray for the press conference, a professor of Medicine and Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who was a member of ACIP until Monday—when she was fired by Secretary Kennedy alongside the entire panel of experts.

Senator Murray and Dr. Chu laid out just how unprecedented and unthinkably dangerous this move is, and what it means for the future of vaccine policy and public health.

On Wednesday, RFK Jr. announced eight new appointees to ACIP, including Dr. Robert Malone, a close adviser to RFK Jr. who downplayed the deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years, and Vicky Pebsworth, who is listed as a board member and volunteer director for the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that is notorious for spreading vaccine misinformation.  

“RFK Jr. took a dangerous, practically unthinkable step to undermine public health and vaccine confidence—he fired every single member of CDC’s vaccine advisory panel,” said Senator Murray on today’s press call.

“And he is already packing the panel with people who advocated letting COVID rip through communities, who serve as board members of vaccine disinformation groups, who promoted conspiracies and quack treatments for COVID and measles—and he is just getting started! It is really just about impossible to underscore how reckless and unprecedented this is. I mean, even some Republicans who voted for him—only did so after he convinced them he wouldn’t go this far.

Of course they should have known better—I even warned them! You can’t trust this guy, he has a long history of attacking science and vaccines at every turn, he’s not going to give up that crusade when you give him tremendous power to wage it.

But they ignored the obvious warnings—and now here we are. Let’s be clear, RFK Jr. is not just crossing a red line for public health, he is sprinting into dangerous, uncharted territory in support of totally deranged conspiracies, and he is dragging us all along with him. He is putting our communities—and our families—in harm’s way.”

“The means by which vaccines are recommended for use in the United States is a careful, deliberate and rigorous process that has been in place for over 60 years. ACIP is widely regarded as the international gold standard for vaccine decision-making.

Other countries have, in the past, considered the United States as a model to guide their own vaccine policies because they could be sure decisions were unbiased and based on evidence.

But that may no longer be the case,” said Dr. Helen Chu, a professor of Medicine and Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Until Monday, Dr. Chu was also a member of ACIP until Secretary Kennedy abruptly dismissed the entire Committee this Monday.

“We cannot dismantle a system that has allowed for open, evidence-based dialogue among experts, that has supported transparent, clear decision-making.  We cannot replace it with a process driven by one person’s beliefs.

In the absence of an independent unbiased ACIP, we can no longer trust that safe and effective vaccines will be available to us and the people around us. I worry about the health and safety of people in our country—and the future of our public health infrastructure.”

Senator Murray forcefully opposed the nomination of notorious anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. to be Secretary of HHS, and she has long worked to combat vaccine skepticism and highlight the importance of scientific research and vaccines. Murray was also a leading voice against the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon to lead CDC, repeatedly speaking up about her serious concerns with the nominee immediately after their meeting.

In 2019, Senator Murray co-led a bipartisan hearing in the HELP Committee on vaccine hesitancy and spoke about the importance of addressing vaccine skepticism and getting people the facts they need to keep their families and communities safe and healthy.

Ahead of the 2019 hearing, as multiple states were facing measles outbreaks in under-vaccinated areas, Murray sent a bipartisan letter with former HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander pressing Trump’s CDC Director and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health on their efforts to promote vaccination and vaccine confidence.

Senator Murray has been a leading voice in Congress against RFK Jr.’s dismantling of HHS and attacks on America’s public health infrastructure, raising the alarm over HHS’ unilateral reorganization plan and slamming the closure of the HHS Region 10 office in Seattle and the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Spokane Research Laboratory.

Senator Murray has sent oversight letters and hosted numerous press conferences and events to lay out how the administration’s reckless gutting of HHS is risking Americans’ health and safety and will set our country back decades, and lifting up the voices of HHS employees who were fired for no reason and through no fault of their own.

In particular, Senator Murray has been leading the charge against the Trump administration’s efforts to gut lifesaving research at NIH and pushed out nearly 5,000 NIH skilled scientists, grants administrators, and other employees at the agency.

When the Trump administration attempted to illegally cap indirect cost rates at 15 percent, Senator Murray immediately and forcefully condemned the move, led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in a letter decrying the proposed change, and introduced amendments to Senate Republicans’ budget resolution to reverse it, which Republicans blocked.

Murray has led Congressional efforts to boost biomedical research. Previously, over her years as Chair of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Murray secured billions of dollars in increases for biomedical research at NIH, and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field.

Senator Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments. 

Watch the virtual press conference

Senator Murray’s full remarks

“I am here today to sound the alarm for public health, and to sound it as loud as I possibly can. Because this week, RFK Jr. took a dangerous, practically unthinkable step to undermine public health and vaccine confidence. He fired every single member of CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. Every. Single. One.

“And he is already packing the panel with people who advocated letting COVID rip through communities, who serve as board members of vaccine disinformation groups, who promoted conspiracies and quack treatments for COVID and measles—and he is just getting started! It is really just about impossible to underscore how reckless and unprecedented this is.

“I mean—even some Republicans who voted for him—only did so after he convinced them he wouldn’t go this far. Of course, they should have known better—I even warned them! You can’t trust this guy. He has a long history of attacking science and vaccines at every turn—he’s not going to give up that crusade when you give him tremendous power to wage it. But they ignored the obvious warnings. And now here we are.

“Let’s be clear, RFK Jr. is not just crossing a red line for public health, he is sprinting into dangerous, uncharted territory in support of totally deranged conspiracies, and he is dragging us all along with him! He is putting our communities and our families in harm’s way.

“Here’s what everyone needs to know. The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel has a simple, important job. Look at the data. Look at the science. And make recommendations on the vaccines FDA has approved as safe and effective.

“That work has serious repercussions. These recommendations impact public confidence and trust in our vaccines. These recommendations are trusted by health care providers as they talk to patients and discuss their personal health decisions.

“And these recommendations affect whether health plans—including Medicare and Medicaid—are required to cover vaccines at zero cost to patients or insurance companies can force Americans to foot the bill for vaccines that keep them safe or parents get guidance about which vaccines their children should receive and when.

“Guess what happens when vaccines become more expensive for patients? Guess what happens when Trump’s highest-ranking health official ignores the facts and tells people our vaccine experts can’t be trusted? Guess what happens when RFK Jr. packs the CDC advisory committee wall-to-wall with his favorite anti-science grifters and conspiracy pushers?

“Fewer people are going to get vaccinated. This is not rocket science.

“Maybe they think—because of RFK’s Jr.’s disinformation—that measles isn’t a big deal. Maybe they think—incorrectly—that it’s safer to get whooping cough than the vaccine. Maybe they just can’t afford it anymore—because the vaccine they wanted to protect their family is no longer covered by insurance.

“Whatever the reason, the result is going to be the same. Diseases we can fight—diseases we can prevent—spreading like wildfire through our communities, through our schools, through our nursing homes. Kids are going to be hospitalized, even killed, all because one conspiracy theorist thinks he knows better than qualified medical experts, and centuries of research.

“We’ve already seen an historic measles outbreak on RFK Jr.’s watch. His response to it has been a complete disaster, promoting quack cures and spreading lies about vaccines, as cases skyrocket.

“And, if RFK Jr.’s flood of disinformation is allowed to drown out real science, it’s not just going to be measles—we are going to see a full parade of horrors come raging back.

“We have to speak up. And we have to make sure we are countering nonsense with reality with facts. We have to make sure parents get the message: that vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving.

“And so, I am using my megaphone today, to not just raise the alarm, but to raise up the voice of an expert who knows the science of vaccines and who knows the stakes of this moment.

“I’m pleased to be joined by one of the CDC advisory members RFK Jr. is trying to silence through firing: UW’s own Dr. Helen Chu. Thank you all for joining this call today.”