Pandemic Center

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee is set to meet this week for the first time since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all of its sitting members and appointed new ones.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is expected to vote on vaccine recommendations for the fall as well as discuss other vaccines, including those given to children. The group wields enormous influence setting vaccine policy in the United States, including which vaccines will be covered by insurance.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee is set to meet for the first time since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the entire panel and appointed his own hand-selected members.

Earlier this month, Kennedy removed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and appointed eight new members, some of whom have been critics of shots -- especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ACIP will meet on Wednesday, June 25, and Thursday, June 26, to review scientific data on some vaccines and vote on some fall recommendations.

Rapid detection and response to biological threats are critical to global health security. For decades, the United States has played a leading role in international outbreak response. However, recent U.S. policy shifts, including deep cuts to global health programs, reductions in personnel, and withdrawal from key institutions like the World Health Organization, are weakening disease detection and response systems worldwide. These actions threaten outbreak preparedness, data sharing, research collaboration, and frontline response capabilities, increasing the risk of uncontrolled epidemics with potentially catastrophic consequences.

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hey’ve thought of each other as enemies. They’re on opposite sides of a culture war. They believe drastically different things about vaccines.

But, earlier this year, they did the rarest of things: They had a civil discussion and found common ground.

Since April, leading public health experts from institutions like Yale and Brown have been meeting with grassroots members of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement, or MAHA, to build trust and bridge deep divides over health care.

The conversations are the brainchild of Brinda Adhikari, a journalist and former television producer who grew increasingly concerned about Americans’ mistrust of institutions after Donald Trump’s reelection.

“These are two groups that talk a lot about each other,” said Adhikari, who has worked for ABC News and executive produced the podcast and television show, “The Problem with Jon Stewart.” “I just don’t see a lot of spaces where they talk to each other or with each other.”

The conversations are captured on Adhikari’s weekly podcast, “Why Should I Trust You?”

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Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of "medical freedom," the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion.

It's an idea supported under Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices.

On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn't prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents.

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Season 3, Episode 11: In this episode, Marla Dalton, PE, CAE, and William Schaffner, MD, talk with Craig Spencer, MD, MPH, emergency physician and global health expert, about what it takes to lead in times of crisis. From treating Ebola patients in Guinea to navigating COVID-19 in New York, he reflects on the power of empathy, the importance of cultural understanding, and the pursuit of health equity. He also shares the personal sacrifices behind public service—and why the lessons of past pandemics must not be forgotten.

Associate professor at Brown University School of Public Health, Spencer has nearly 2 decades of experience in global health and humanitarian response, having worked on critical public health issues across Africa, Southeast Asia, and beyond, including leading epidemiological responses during the West African Ebola outbreak. His work focuses on the historical foundations of public health, humanitarian response, and pandemic preparedness. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Washington Post and more. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Advisors for Doctors Without Borders USA.