The medical community is bracing for attacks on, and the possible dismantling of, federal recommendations for safe, lifesaving childhood vaccinations after health secretary and fervent anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired all 17 members of a federal vaccine advisory committee Monday.
Outrage has been swift after Kennedy announced the "clean sweep" of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). He made the announcement in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Open protest erupted at the CDC on Tuesday, with staff calling for Kennedy's resignation. Staff rallied outside CDC headquarters in Atlanta, objecting to agency firings, cuts to funding and critical programs, scientific censorship, as well as ACIP's ouster.