HHS’s New Vaccine Board To Look Into ‘Cumulative Effects’ Of Vaccines For Children
RFK Jr. triggers Democratic hysterics after pointing out Big Pharma contributions to Rep. Pallone
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred this week with a Democratic member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health who evidently could dish it out but couldn't take it.
Kennedy was ultimately asked to take back a conclusion he reached on the basis of facts about New Jersey Democrat Rep. Frank Pallone's receipt of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.
Pallone used his time Tuesday during the hearing concerning the Department of Health and Human Services' 2026 budget to attack Kennedy, suggesting he is a purveyor of a pseudo-scientific agenda that threatens the lives of the American people.
"Mr. Secretary, the science is not on your side. I just really think that people are going to die as a result of your actions and congressional Republicans' actions," said Pallone.
One of Pallone's biggest themes was that Kennedy's work lacked transparency. However, when the health secretary attempted to provide answers, Pallone shut down the dialogue.
"You have made a number of major decisions about vaccines. And … there's been no public comment process or public accountability on that either. What are you afraid of?" asked Pallone. "I mean, with regard to vaccines, are you just afraid of receiving public comments on proposals where you just think these are fringe views that are contrary to the views of most scientists and that the public comments will reflect this?"
Kennedy responded, "We have a public process for regulating vaccines. It's called the ACIP committee, and it's a public meeting."
At the mention of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Pallone noted that Kennedy had fired the Biden appointees on the panel.
RELATED: How Big Pharma left its mark on woke CDC vax advisory panel — and what RFK Jr. did about it
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Kennedy canned all 17 Biden administration appointees on the ACIP earlier this month, stressing in a corresponding op-ed that "the committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine."
Data provided on OpenPaymentData.CMS.gov, a site managed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, indicates Kennedy's concerns were not misplaced, revealing just how cozy some of the former members were with the organizations whose products they were tasked with scrutinizing.
For example, former ACIP member Edwin Jose Asturias apparently collected around $54,000 from pharmaceutical companies, including $20,705 in what appear to be consulting fees.
Among the companies that paid Asturias what appear to have been consulting fees were Pfizer and Merck Sharpe & Dohme LLC, a bio-pharmaceutical subsidiary of the company whose pneumococcal vaccine Capvaxive the committee voted to recommend in October.
'You were the leading member of Congress on that issue.'
Blaze News previously reported that Asturias also appears to have received millions of dollars in research support from Big Pharma, including over $3.1 million from Pfizer and over $730,000 from the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline LLC.
"I fired people who had conflicts with the pharmaceutical industry," Kennedy told Pallone.
Despite his supposed desire for answers, Pallone interrupted Kennedy in order to resume attacking him.
When subsequently questioned by Republican Rep. Neal Dunn (Fla.) about how he intended to restore public trust in the health establishment, Kennedy volunteered a quick answer, then tore into Pallone.
RELATED: Kennedy has Big Pharma ads in his sights — and he's not the only one mulling a crackdown
Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Protect Our Care
"Congressman Pallone, 15 years ago, you and I met. You were, at that time, a champion for people who had suffered injuries from vaccines. You were very adamant about it. You were the leading member of Congress on that issue," said Kennedy. "Since then, you've accepted $2 million from pharmaceutical companies in contributions — more than any other member of this committee."
According to OpenSecrets, Pallone has received over $2.2 million from the pharmaceuticals/health products industry and over $5 million from health professionals since 1989.
Just last year, Pallone received over $15,000 in campaign contributions from PACs and individuals linked to Johnson & Johnson and $21,200 from individuals at Amneal Pharmaceuticals.
"Your enthusiasm for supporting the old ACIP committee, which was completely rife and pervasive with pharmaceutical conflicts, seems to be an outcome of those contributions," added Kennedy.
Colorado Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette rushed to Pallone's defense, claiming that Kennedy was "impugning Mr. Pallone" and had implied that "Mr. Pallone would not fight for vaccine victims because he took money from the pharmaceutical industry."
Pallone similarly suggested that Kennedy's words should be "taken down."
After Subcommittee Chair Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) suggested DeGette's point of order was valid, Kennedy said with a smirk that his remarks "are retracted."
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East Palestine not forgotten: Vance confirms Trump admin will study fallout of nightmarish train disaster
Vice President JD Vance visited East Palestine, Ohio, on the second anniversary of the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train disaster, which darkened the sky over the village with hazardous chemicals, poisoned the surrounding environment, and threatened the health of nearby residents.
"President Trump just wanted to deliver a message that this community will not be forgotten, will not be left behind, and we are in it for the long haul in East Palestine," Vance told locals in the village's firehouse.
Vance confirmed Thursday that the Trump administration is returning in search of answers and results.
Vance joined the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya Thursday in announcing a five-year, $10 million research initiative to "assess and address" the health fallout from the derailment.
According to HHS, this multi-disciplinary series of studies will seek to understand the health impacts of chemical exposures on short- and long-term health outcomes, "including relevant biological markers of risk"; monitor the community's health in order to take preventative measures and support their health care decisions; and connect community members with relevant experts and officials in order to properly address their health concerns.
'We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.'
When the Norfolk Southern freight train consisting of 141 packed cars, nine empty cars, and three locomotives derailed in East Palestine in early 2023 due to a failed wheel bearing, 38 cars, 11 containing hazardous materials — including vinyl chloride, benzene residue, hydrogen chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene — went off the tracks.
RELATED: Who is bankrolling the anti-MAHA movement?
Photo by US Environmental Protection Agency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
For fear that the fires engulfing the wreckage might trigger a "catastrophic tanker failure," railroad emergency crews conducted a vent and burn of five tanks of vinyl chloride, producing hydrogen chloride and phosgene gas — the latter of which was used to kill soldiers en masse in World War I.
The resulting columns of smoke that drifted over the village, which forced 2,000 residents to flee their homes, formed what the National Transportation Safety Board called a toxic "mushroom cloud."
After the controlled burn and amid reports of thousands of dead fish and dying livestock, hazardous materials specialist Silverio Caggiano told WKBN-TV, "We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open."
The NTSB indicated in a June 2024 report that the decision to execute the controlled burn "was based on incomplete and misleading information provided by Norfolk Southern officials and contractors. The vent and burn was not necessary to prevent a tank car failure."
Not only was the decision misguided; it was ruinous.
Thousands of local creatures were killed, nearby waters were heavily contaminated, and possibly cancer-causing airborne toxins were sent into the air across multiple states well beyond.
Blaze News previously reported that the Environmental Protection Agency's preliminary data in 2023 found that "concentrations for nine of the approximately 50 chemicals measured were relatively high in comparison to the levels considered safe for lifetime exposure."
"Overall, if ambient levels persisted for these chemicals, they could pose health concerns, either individually (e.g., acrolein, a known respiratory irritant) or cumulatively. Thus, subsequent, spatiotemporal analysis was pertinent," added the report.
RELATED: JD Vance joined liberal Twitter knockoff Bluesky. Things went off the rails REALLY fast.
Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
East Palestinians reported various health issues in the wake of the derailment, including headaches, gastrointestinal illness, and respiratory and skin irritations.
Owing to the nature of the chemicals and the duration of their exposure, many in East Palestine feared that there could also be long-term health impacts, especially on mothers and children.
The vice president said in a video shared to social media on Thursday that despite significant concerns from those in the area impacted by the derailment, the Biden administration "refused to do anything to actually study the effects of these long-term exposures on the people of East Palestine. Well, now we have a new president and a great new secretary of health and human services."
'Once again, this administration is showing the American people what true leadership looks like.'
"The people of East Palestine have a right to clear, science-backed answers about the impact on their health," said Kennedy.
— (@)
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences indicated that it will distribute the committed $10 million in tranches of $2 million a year over the next five years for one to three awards. Experts have until July 21 to submit research proposals in hopes of securing funding.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya teased the initiative last month, telling Fox News' host Bret Baier he was looking forward to addressing "the health questions and the health needs of the American people with excellent, gold-standard research."
The initiative was celebrated by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, and Republican Reps. Mike Rulli and Dave Joyce.
"This funding will enable the people of East Palestine to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that any potential for long-term health effects will be studied by the scientists at the National Institutes of Health," said DeWine. "I thank President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Secretary Kennedy for their commitment now and into the future."
"Once again, this administration is showing the American people what true leadership looks like — putting Americans first," said Rulli.
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Kraft Heinz, General Mills Join List Of Companies Removing Artificial Dyes From Their Products Amid MAHA Efforts
General Mills to remove artificial colors from cereals. Is chemical linked to infertility next on chopping block?
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. keeps racking up the wins in his campaign to help President Donald Trump make America a healthier nation, particularly on the dietary front.
His latest victory — and American consumers' by extension — was secured at General Mills, the American ultra-processed food giant with cereal brands that include Cheerios, Chex, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, and Wheaties.
General Mills announced plans on Tuesday to remove artificial colors from all of its U.S. cereals and all K-12 school foods by next summer. The company indicated that it also intends to remove all fake coloring from its full lineup of American-facing products by the end of 2027.
How it started
In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration outlined a plan to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from America's food supply.
The FDA initiated the process to revoke authorization for Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B in the short term and to eliminate another six synthetic dyes — FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2 — by the end of next year.
'That era is coming to an end.'
The agency also requested that companies move up their timelines for the removal of FD&C Red No. 3.
RELATED: Kennedy has Big Pharma ads in his sights — and he's not the only one mulling a crackdown
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Vani Hari, a critic of the food industry who founded Food Babe, told Blaze News in November that the brighter artificial colors, which are helpful with sales and attractive to children, are harmful to their health.
"The science shows that these dyes cause hyperactivity in children, can disrupt the immune system, and are contaminated with carcinogens," said Hari. "There are safer colors available made from fruits and vegetables, such as beets and carrots. Food companies already don't use artificial dyes en masse in Europe because they don't want to slap warning labels on their products that say they 'may cause adverse effects on attention in children.'"
Extra to seeking the removal of the harmful chemicals, the FDA indicated in April that it would partner with the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on how food additives impact kids' health and development.
"For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent," said Kennedy. "These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end. We're restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public's trust."
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary noted that "given the growing concerns of doctors and parents about the potential role of petroleum-based food dyes, we should not be taking risks and do everything possible to safeguard the health of our children."
How it's going
A number of companies have proven amenable to the changes advocated by the Trump administration.
RELATED: How Big Pharma left its mark on woke CDC vax advisory panel — and what RFK Jr. did about it
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Thirteen days after HHS' announcement, Tyson Foods indicated it was on track to remove all petroleum-based dyes from its production process by the end of May. Top executives from PepsiCo, Danone North America, and TreeHouse Foods similarly signaled commitments to scrap artificial colors.
'When the government sets clear, science-based standards, the food industry listens and acts.'
The American fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger revealed last month that it was removing artificial coloring from two of its drinks and swapping out its high-fructose corn syrup-based ketchup for an alternative that uses real sugar.
A spokesman for the company told CNN that the changes were part of the chain's "ongoing commitment to providing our customers with the highest-quality ingredients."
Kennedy encouraged more companies to similarly volunteer "to prioritize Americans' health and join the effort to Make America Healthy Again."
Blaze News previously reported that Kraft Heinz got on board this week, stating that it will remove artificial food, drug, and cosmetic colors from products in the United States before the end of 2027.
"This voluntary step — phasing out harmful dyes in brands like Kool-Aid, Jell‑O, and Crystal Light — proves that when the government sets clear, science-based standards, the food industry listens and acts," tweeted Kennedy.
While stressing that 85% of its full U.S. retail portfolio is "currently made without certified colors," General Mills said Tuesday it would eliminate the remainder of artificial coloring in short order.
"Across the long arc of our history, General Mills has moved quickly to meet evolving consumer needs, and reformulating our product portfolio to remove certified colors is yet another example," said General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening.
RELATED: Meat the enemy: How protein became the left's newest microaggression
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
"Knowing the trust families place in us, we are leading the way on removing certified colors in cereals and K-12 foods by next summer. We're committed to continuing to make food that tastes great and is accessible to all," added the executive.
The removal of synthetic dyes from the food supply is a giant step, though there remains at least one chemical in cereals with effects that may warrant further action.
No artificial colors — but infertility?
A peer-reviewed study published last year in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology suggested that current concentrations of chlormequat chloride in oat-based foods "warrant more expansive toxicity resting, food monitoring, and epidemiological studies."
Researchers on the study from the Environmental Working Group, a chemical watchdog accused in recent years of exaggeration, indicated that food samples purchased in 2022 and 2023 "show detectable levels of chlormequat in all but two of 25 conventional oat-based products."
Quaker Oats and Cheerios were allegedly among the affected cereals.
'Do we really need more chemicals in our food?'
Chlormequat, first registered in the U.S. in 1962 as a plant growth regulator and recognized decades later by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as "toxic to wildlife," has been linked in animal studies to disrupted fetal growth, damage to the reproductive system, delayed puberty, and reduced fertility.
While the EPA suggested in 2023 that there were no dietary or residential risks of concern associated with human exposure to chlormequat, the 2024 study suggested that "more recent reproductive toxicity studies on chlormequat show delayed onset of puberty, reduced sperm motility, decreased weights of male reproductive organs, and decreased testosterone levels in rats exposed during sensitive windows of development, including during pregnancy and early life."
Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
Secretary Kennedy has criticized the use of chlormequat chloride, which he deemed "one of those 'forever chemicals,'" on grains.
He noted in July 2023, "This chemical was prohibited by the very same EPA in 1962 for use on anything but ornamental plants in greenhouses. That was before the agency was captured by industry."
Kennedy added, "Chlormaquat is linked to disruption of fetal growth, metabolic alterations, lower sperm motility, deceased testosterone, delayed development in puberty, and other effects. At a time when chronic disease is at an all-time high, do we really need more chemicals in our food?"
Blaze News reached out to HHS about the removal of artificial dyes as well as about chlormequat in the food supply but did not immediately receive a response.
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Kennedy has Big Pharma ads in his sights — and he's not the only one mulling a crackdown
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted in an op-ed last year that one of the ways President Donald Trump can make America healthy again is by reviewing direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ad guidelines.
"The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to the public," wrote Kennedy. "News channels are filled with drug commercials, and reasonable viewers may question whether their dependence on these ads influences their coverage of health issues."
The administration is now poised to tackle this issue with policies that might make it costlier and/or more difficult for pharmaceutical giants to push their products directly to patients.
Health and Human Services press secretary Emily Hilliard told Blaze News that "Secretary Kennedy has consistently emphasized direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising must prioritize accuracy, patient safety, and the public interest — not profit margins."
"Consistent with Secretary Kennedy's public health commitments, we are exploring ways to restore more rigorous oversight and improve the quality of information presented to American consumers, who deserve nothing less than radical transparency," added Hilliard.
RELATED: How Big Pharma left its mark on woke CDC vax advisory panel — and what RFK Jr. did about it
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Bloomberg reported that the administration is considering two policies in particular.
The first would require drugmakers to to be more forthright in their ads about the side effects of their products.
Given that pharma products often have myriad side effects, this would likely increase the run time of TV ads, thereby making them far more costly. Since a total ban on pharma direct-to-customer ads would expose the administration to litigation, this potential disincentive could have a similar effect without the consequence.
Individuals said to be familiar with the plans told Bloomberg that the second policy would entail denying pharmaceutical companies the ability to write off DTC advertising as a business expense for tax purposes.
Recent analysis from the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing indicated that the average annual global spending on advertising and promotions in 2023 among the drugmakers AbbVie, Amgen, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer was $1.4 billion, with Pfizer spending the most.
The advertising data firm MediaRadar reportedly found that companies spent $10.8 billion last year on direct-to-consumer pharma advertising.
Drugmakers spent a combined $729.4 million to run TV commercials for the top 10 brands in just the first three months of 2025, reported Fierce Pharma.
'The American people don’t want to see misleading and deceptive prescription drug ads on television.'
Bloomberg suggested that these potential policies could impact a key source of revenue for advertising, media, and pharmaceutical companies.
AbbVie chief commercial officer Jeff Stewart reportedly told analysts in May that if there were a crackdown on pharma ads, the company "would have to pivot," potentially focusing its advertising online rather than on mass media.
RELATED: MAHA scores major victory as Kraft Heinz vows to stop using artificial food dyes
Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
Alex Siciliano, a spokesperson for the National Association of Broadcasters, told Bloomberg, "Restricting pharmaceutical ads would have serious consequences for stations, particularly those in smaller markets, and could raise First Amendment concerns."
Those concerned about HHS purging the airwaves of Big Pharma propaganda need not only fear initiatives from the Trump administration.
Independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine) introduced legislation last week that would ban drugmakers from using direct-to-consumer advertising outright, not only on TV and radio, but on social media, digital platforms, and in print as well.
"The American people are sick and tired of greedy pharmaceutical companies spending billions of dollars on absurd TV commercials pushing their outrageously expensive prescription drugs," Sanders said in a statement.
"The American people don’t want to see misleading and deceptive prescription drug ads on television. They want us to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and ban these bogus ads."
An Axios-Ipsos poll conducted last year found that 59% of Americans support banning TV pharma ads.
Unlike the Trump administration's potential policies, the End Prescription Drug Ads Now Act might not survive a constitutional challenge, given that Congress is barred from making any law abridging the freedom of speech.
The independent lawmakers noted in their joint statement that HHS Secretary Kennedy is not the only relevant party who has expressed an interest in clearing the airwaves; the American Medical Association has similarly endorsed a ban.
"The widespread use of direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies drives up costs and doesn’t necessarily make patients healthier," said King.
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MAHA scores major victory as Kraft Heinz vows to stop using artificial food dyes
In a significant victory for the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, food giant Kraft Heinz vowed that it would remove all artificial colors from its products in the coming years.
On Tuesday, Kraft Heinz announced in a statement that it will remove artificial food, drug, and cosmetic colors from products in the United States before the end of 2027.
Kraft Heinz also declared that 'it will not launch any new products in the US with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately.'
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that there are seven certified synthetically produced color additives approved for use in foods, drugs, and cosmetics.
"The FDA’s regulations require evidence that a color additive is safe at its intended level of use before it may be added to foods," according to the FDA.
In order to be an approved additive in foods, the artificial coloring can be added only to certain types of foods and in limited quantities. Companies that use it must also adhere to FDA regulations on how the color additive is presented on the product's packaging.
As Blaze News reported in January, the FDA announced a ban on the use of Red No. 3 dye because of evidence that laboratory rats exposed to high levels of Red No. 3 developed cancer.
RELATED: Red dye 40 and hidden toxins are fueling the ADD epidemic
Kraft Heinz announced a three-pronged strategy for removing artificial colors from its existing products, including "removing colors where it is not critical to the consumer experience," "replacing FD&C colors with natural colors," or "reinventing new colors and shades where matching natural replacements are not available."
Kraft Heinz pointed out that nearly 90% of its U.S. products are free of FD&C colors.
In addition to removing artificial dyes from its existing products, Kraft Heinz also declared that "it will not launch any new products in the U.S. with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately."
Pedro Navio — the North America president of Kraft Heinz — stated, "As a food company with a 150+ year heritage, we are continuously evolving our recipes, products, and portfolio to deliver superiority to consumers and customers. The vast majority of our products use natural or no colors, and we’ve been on a journey to reduce our use of FD&C colors across the remainder of our portfolio."
Navio stressed that the company eliminated artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors from its extremely popular mac and cheese in 2016.
The Kraft Heinz Company has several notable brands under its umbrella, including Oscar Mayer, Ore-Ida, Capri Sun, Lunchables, Jell-O, and Kool-Aid.
Kraft Heinz is the "third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands," according to the food behemoth.
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Kraft Heinz is removing all artificial colors from its brands after the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. placed pressure on food manufacturers to eliminate synthetic additives from their food products by the end of President Donald Trump's term.
In March, Kennedy urged the removal of artificial dyes from food products in a meeting with top food executives from massive companies such as Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, General Mills, Tyson Foods, and W.K. Kellogg.
As part of his MAHA agenda, Kennedy is pushing food manufacturers to remove potentially dangerous petroleum-based synthetic dyes from food.
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent," Kennedy proclaimed in April. "These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end."
"We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust," President Trump's HHS secretary declared. "And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day."
In addition to removing artificial dyes from the nation’s food supply, the FDA is partnering with the National Institutes of Health to "conduct comprehensive research on how food additives impact children’s health and development."
Blaze News reached out to the HHS and FDA for a comment on Kraft Heinz eliminating artificial food coloring but did not receive an immediate response.
RELATED: RFK's highly anticipated MAHA report paints dark picture of America's health crisis
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
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FDA Vaccine Advisor Calls For COVID Victims To Sue Trump Admin
'What you would like to see is ... the inevitable happening'
How Big Pharma left its mark on woke CDC vax advisory panel — and what RFK Jr. did about it
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week canned all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — the federal panel whose vaccine recommendations become official policy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and apply to the entire American population once adopted by the agency's director.
Kennedy accused the ACIP of "malevolent malpractice" and vowed to appoint "highly credentialed physicians and scientists who will make extremely consequential public health determinations by applying evidence-based decision-making with objectivity and common sense."
Among the eight individuals whom Kennedy has appointed to the committee are:
- Dr. Martin Kulldorf, a former professor of medicine at Harvard University who risked his career by both swimming against the tide of establishment thinking during the pandemic and co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration with now-National Institutes of Health Director Jay Battacharya;
- Dr. Robert Malone, an early pioneer in messenger RNA technology who faced years of abuse for questioning the safety of mRNA vaccines and the severity of COVID-19; and
- Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth who ruffled feathers in 2021 by criticizing ruinous mask mandates for children.
The removal and replacement of members of the committee is a wish fulfilled for longtime critics of the ACIP and a nightmare realized for medical and pharmaceutical establishmentarians satisfied with the status quo.
Those in the establishmentarian camp now clutching pearls over Kennedy's actions appear eager to ignore or downplay the conflicts of interest, ideological bents, and questionable decisions that were apparently commonplace on the committee.
Lucrative questions, questionable decisions
The ACIP's members as of April 2025 were:
- Helen Talbot, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine;
- Edwin Jose Asturias, professor of pediatrics and infection diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine;
- Noel Brewer, professor in public health at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health;
- Oliver Brooks, interim chief executive officer at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases;
- Lin Chen, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School;
- Helen Chu, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Washington;
- Sybil Cineas, clinical associate professor of pediatrics and medicine at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University;
- Denise Jamieson, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine;
- Mini Kamboj, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College;
- George Kuchel, professor of medicine at University of Connecticut Health;
- Jamie Loehr, family physician;
- Karyn Lyons, chief of the immunization section at the Illinois Department of Public Health;
- Yvonne Maldonado, professor of global health and infectious diseases at Stanford University;
- Charlotte Moser, co-director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia;
- Robert Schechter, chief of the California Department of Public Health Immunization branch;
- Albert Shaw, professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine; and
- Jane Zucker, adjunct professor at SUNY's department of community health services.
All 17 of the members were appointed by the Biden administration. Thirteen were appointed last year.
RELATED: RFK Jr. torches vaccine panel to make consequences count again
Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Data provided on OpenPaymentData.CMS.gov, a site managed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, provides some insights into just how cozy some of the former members were with the organizations whose products they were tasked with scrutinizing.
The website indicates that between 2017 and 2023:
- Asturiasapparently collected around $54,000 from pharmaceutical companies, including $20,705 in what appear to be consulting fees. Among the companies that paid Asturias what appear to have been consulting fees were Pfizer and Merck Sharpe & Dohme LLC, a bio-pharmaceutical subsidiary of the company whose pneumococcal vaccine Capvaxive the committee voted to recommend in October. Asturias also appears to have received millions of dollars in research support from Big Pharma, including over $3.1 million from Pfizer and over $730,000 from the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline LLC. The Colorado Sun reported that the research support was for Asturias to study RSV, pneumonia, and other diseases both in Guatemala and the United States.
- Brooks apparentlyreceived over $18,000 in what appear to be consulting fees from the vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur and thousands of dollars more from the company categorized as "compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as faculty or as a speaker at a venue other than a continuing education program."
- Chen, a proponent of masking during the pandemic, apparently collected $55,111.07 from pharmaceutical companies. Like Asturias, she has collected thousands of dollars in consulting fees from Merck Sharpe & Dohme LLC but also plenty in consulting fees from the vaccine manufacturer Valneva, which the committee has since blessed with multiple recommendations. During Chen's directorship, Mount Auburn Hospital Travel Center received over $245,000 from the COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna.
- Chuapparently received over $6,000 in consulting fees from Merck Sharpe & Dohme and thousands more from the Illinois-headquartered pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. According to documentation from the Washington State Department of Health, Chu served as a co-investigator on studies funded by Pfizer, Novavax, and GlaxoSmithKline; has received research support from Gates Ventures, the Gates Foundation, Sanofi Pasteur, and Cepheid; and has served on advisory boards for Abbvie, Merck, Pfizer, Ellume, and the Gates Foundation.
- Kuchelapparently received $10,720 in consulting fees from Big Pharma, the largest payment of which was from Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical company, Janssen Global. ACIP recommended the use of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine last year.
- Maldonado, who publicly emphasized the supposed need for children to get vaccinated for COVID-19, apparently received over $33,147 from pharmaceutical companies, including $27,577.71 in what appear to be consulting fees. Like Asturias and Chen, Maldonado received a sizeable consulting fee payment from Merck Sharp & Dohme in 2023. When broken down by general payments, Pfizer ranked number one for Maldonado. Prior to her appointment to the ACIP, the CDC indicated that Maldonado "served as Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for Pfizer meningococcal vaccine trials and as a site PI for Pfizer pediatric COVID-19 and maternal RSV vaccines and AstraZenaca [sic] varicella zoster vaccine trials." She reportedly abstained form voting on the COVID-19, pneumococcal, and influenza vaccines.
- Shaw, a member of Yale's Infectious Disease Diversity, Equity, and Antiracism Committee, apparently received $2,590 in consulting fees from Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals.
According to the HPV IQ subpage on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health website, Brewer "has received grants from and/or served on paid advisory boards for Pfizer, Merck, [GlaxoSmithKline LLC], FDA, CDC, and NIH."
The Defender reported in 2023 that Brewer — who suggested in 2023 that the "U.S. needs to get on an annual [COVID-19 vaccine] schedule, as we do for seasonal flu vaccination" — served on different paid Merck human papillomavirus boards since 2011 and served as a general consultant for the company for several years.
'They have a big job to do.'
Brewer reportedly received over $500,000 in grant funding to study HPV vaccine uptake from Merck and over $400,000 from Pfizer to "study how trainings might improve physician perceptions and recommendations of the HPV vaccine."
A Science investigation published in March downplayed the possible impact of Big Pharma ties among ACIP members, claiming that five of the 13 physicians on the committee prior to Kennedy's purge received no Big Pharma payments in the "several years before the service began" and that the various kinds of payments from drugmakers that eight other members received "averaged just over $4000 a year, nearly $3000 less than the average for all U.S. specialist physicians."
Blaze News reached out to Asturias, Brewer, Brooks, Chen, Chu, Maldonado, and Shaw for comment.
Brewer told Blaze News that his "last research grant from a pharmaceutical company ended nine years ago, in 2016," and the numbers provided above "are about right" and that "the actual numbers are higher by maybe $10K and change."
Brewer added, "I wish the new ACIP committee members well. They have a big job to do," then referred Blaze News to a recent article in Science, which notes that "the new panel members have been authors on about 78% fewer vaccine-related papers than the ousted members."
Ideological bent
Helen Chu joined Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) to complain at a press conference on Thursday about the firings. Murray called the removal of Biden administration appointees a "dangerous, practically unthinkable step to undermine public health and vaccine confidence."
Chu, meanwhile, characterized the previous work of the ACIP as "transparent" and "unbiased."
Contrary to Chu's suggestion, biases ran deep on the panel in years past. While some of these biases may have been professional, others were ideological.
Noel Brewer, for instance, is a 2020 Biden donor whose social media history signals a possible DEI-lensed preoccupation with race.
'We must ask whether our own research, teaching, and service are intentionally antiracist.'
Brewer kicked off 2023 complaining that AI tools like ChatGPT sounded "straight, white and probably a few other things too." Months later, Brewer suggested that the lack of diversity in the authorship of certain textbooks was indicative of "white supremacy culture in academia." When discussing academic tenure and promotion decisions in September 2023, Brewer claimed that "fit, culture, and so on are tools of white supremacy."
Oliver Brooks — criticized in 2022 by Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary for reportedly voting in favor of recommending that kids ages 5-11 receive COVID-19 vaccine booster shots without outcomes data — is a repeat donor to Democratic politicians including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Like Brewer, his outlook appears tinged by identity politics.
Amid the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, Brooks tried to provide an analogy to George Floyd's death in an editorial titled "Police Brutality and Blacks: An American Immune System Disorder" in the Journal of the National Medical Association in which he stated that the "country as a whole sets stereotypes as well as biases against black Americans which inevitably leads to social misinterpretation of the safety of Americans when a black person is present."
Brooks also noted, quoting another article, "We must ask whether our own research, teaching, and service are intentionally antiracist and challenge the institutions we work in to ask the same."
When Americans were protesting in 2020 in favor of reopening the country, Brooks framed the matter in identitarian terms on C-SPAN, noting, "If you look at those protesting to open up the environment — I prefer to use the term 'environment' as opposed to 'the economy' because it's not about money; it's about lives — most, I won't say all, most of the protesters are white or not inclusive of African-Americans or LatinX individuals."
Like some of her former colleagues on the panel, Sybil Cineas apparently has found it difficult to separate medicine from racial concerns or vice versa.
For instance, Cineas, listed as a member of the advisory group for Brown University's Office of Belonging, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, signed an open letter in 2021 to Tulane University's board of trustees, which complained of a "pervasive culture of White Supremacy" in the medical profession that "is perpetuated by the deeply hierarchical power structures of academic medicine."
The 'nuclear' decision
Kennedy noted in a June 9 op-ed that the point of "retiring" the committee members, including those "last-minute appointees of the Biden administration," was to help restore the public's trust "that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies."
"The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine," wrote the health secretary. "It has never recommended against a vaccine — even those later withdrawn for safety reasons. It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women. To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust."
'Most of ACIP's members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies.'
When painting the committee as a succession of compromised members, Kennedy referred to a decades-old investigation that found a "web of close ties" between the CDC and the companies that make vaccines.
RELATED: CDC knew the COVID jab was dangerous — and pushed it anyway
Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
He also highlighted the revelation that four of the eight then-ACIP members who voted in 1997 to recommend routine vaccination of infants with the rotavirus vaccine had financial ties to the very pharmaceutical companies developing such vaccines. This was especially damning because the recommended vaccine was subsequently withdrawn on account of its ruinous and in some cases deadly side effects.
Although members are now barred from holding stocks or serving on advisory boards associated with vaccine makers, Kennedy indicated that "these conflicts of interest persist."
"Most of ACIP's members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines," wrote the health secretary.
'Ending the conflict of interest is the first critical step to restoring unbiased, science-based analysis of safety and efficacy of vaccines.'
The health secretary emphasized that the "malpractice" impacts Americans nationwide, in part due to the committee's "stubborn unwillingness to demand adequate safety trials before recommending new vaccines for our children."
Kennedy claimed that "a compliant American child receives between 69 and 92 routine vaccines (depending on brand/dictated dosage) from conception to 18 years of age."
"ACIP has recommended each of these additional jabs without requiring placebo-controlled trials for any of them," said Kennedy. "This means that no one can scientifically ascertain whether these products are averting more problems than they are causing."
Peter Hotez, a cable news vaccine promoter and the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, was among the medical establishmentarians to recently contest this claim about placebo-controlled trials, saying, "That's simply not true."
'The pharmaceutical companies have been running a regulatory capture scam.'
Kennedy claimed in response that such protesters were wrong — and made sure to bring receipts.
— (@)
The health secretary also indicated on Friday that the ACIP will "institute bias policies recommending that ACIP panelists recuse themselves from decisions in which their current or former clients have a financial interest."
Mixed reception
Blaze News senior editor Daniel Horowitz said, "This is a nuclear bomb on the biomedical security state."
"The heart of the problem with vaccine safety stems from the fact that the pharmaceutical companies have been running a regulatory capture scam," continued Horowitz. "They place scientists and doctors on their payroll and then insert those individuals into government advisory positions. Ending the conflict of interest is the first critical step to restoring unbiased, science-based analysis of safety and efficacy of vaccines."
RELATED: Who is bankrolling the anti-MAHA movement?
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Children's Health Defense, which was chaired by Kennedy from 2015 to 2023, similarly celebrated the news.
Mary Holland, president and CEO of CHD, told Blaze News in a statement that Kennedy's announcement "marks a pivotal advancement in the radical transparency he promised the country."
"Children's Health Defense has long highlighted the conflicts of interest involving the ACIP committee. It is unbelievable that ACIP members were allowed to participate in deliberations regarding a product in which they might have a financial stake," said Holland. "No wonder the committee consistently approved every vaccine for use, including those that were proven unsafe and subsequently removed shortly after approval. Ending this practice represents a significant step forward in restoring the public’s trust in our health agencies."
Of course, Kennedy's actions did not please everyone.
'I've never seen anything this damaging to public health happen in my lifetime.'
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the Democratic lawmakers who has received a fortune in donations from the pharmaceutical industry, called the firing of the ACIP members "a public health disaster."
Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was among the many who concern-mongered last year about the impact that Kennedy could have if afforded power and access in the Trump administration.
Last week, Offit wrote, "RFK Jr. will do everything he can to make sure that all vaccines are no longer mandated and to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared. This is only the beginning."
One of the dismissed ACIP members complained to CNN, "I've never seen anything this damaging to public health happen in my lifetime."
Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
The ex-member, whose name was not disclosed, added, "I'm shocked. It's pretty brazen. This will fundamentally destabilize vaccination in America."
Bruce Scott, the president of the American Medical Association, similarly expressed distress last week, claiming that the action undermines public trust "and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives."
Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, claimed that Kennedy's "allegations about the integrity of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are completely unfounded."
BlazeTV host Steve Deace, considering the action within the broader context of the MAHA movement, told "Blaze News: The Mandate" last week that President Donald Trump's decision to make Kennedy the health secretary "might be the closest we're ever going to get in America to a tribunal on what happened during that time [the pandemic]."
The firings at the ACIP are "the closest thing to real consequences — people losing their jobs — that we have seen," added Deace.
— (@)
HHS indicated in a statement that it will convene its next meeting June 25 through June 27 at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
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