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Dr. Vinay Prasad<\/h4>\n
F.D.A. chief medical and scientific officer<\/p>\n
Critical of Covid boosters and shots for healthy kids<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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F.D.A. commissioner<\/p>\n
Skeptical of certain vaccines<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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The agency\u2019s new vaccine lead and chief medical officer, Dr. Vinay Prasad<\/strong>, has called himself an \u201cextreme pro-vaccine person<\/a>,\u201d and Dr. Marty Makary<\/strong>, the agency\u2019s commissioner, said <\/a>last<\/a> week<\/a> that \u201cwe believe in vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n
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But the two officials, who sharply criticized vaccine mandates as academic researchers during the pandemic, have expressed doubts about the safety and necessity of Covid boosters for healthy children and adults. This summer, Dr. Prasad overrode some agency scientists<\/a> who favored widespread access to Covid shots, narrowing the vaccine\u2019s eligibility<\/a> to those 65 and older and to younger people with underlying medical conditions.<\/p>\n
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Last week, Dr. Makary echoed the views<\/a> of Mr. Kennedy when he publicly questioned<\/a> the longstanding recommendation to give the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. That shot is credited<\/a> with nearly eliminating the transmission of the disease from mother to infant.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Prasad replaced a veteran at the agency, Dr. Peter Marks, who resigned<\/a> in March and said that Mr. Kennedy\u2019s aggressive stance on vaccines posed a danger to the public.<\/p>\n
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In June, Mr. Kennedy fired<\/a> all 17 members of a powerful C.D.C. expert panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Insurance companies and government programs like Medicaid are required to cover the vaccinations that the panel recommends.<\/p>\n
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Mr. Kennedy handpicked eight new members<\/a> that month, half of whom had expressed skepticism of vaccines at some point. (One has since stepped down<\/a>.) Others have little expertise in immunology or vaccines.<\/p>\n
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On Monday, Mr. Kennedy appointed five more members<\/a>, just days before the group meets to review recommendations for multiple vaccines<\/a>. Some of the newly selected members have been critical<\/a> of Covid vaccines or vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Robert Malone<\/strong> is a controversial figure. He performed early experiments using mRNA in the 1980s but gained notoriety<\/a> during the pandemic for claiming that Covid vaccines were unsafe, contradicting volumes of studies.<\/p>\n
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Martin Kulldorff<\/strong>, <\/strong>a biostatistician, has been generally supportive of vaccines but opposed Covid vaccination for children<\/a> and vaccine mandates. Vicky Pebsworth<\/strong>, a nurse with a doctorate in public health, serves on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit that disseminates misinformation<\/a> about the risks of vaccination.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Malone and Dr. Kulldorff have served as paid expert witnesses<\/a> in legal cases against vaccine makers. Dr. Pebsworth claimed in a lawsuit<\/a> that a survey of families of unvaccinated children supported a hypothesis that a rise in the number of recommended childhood vaccines explained an epidemic of chronic disease.<\/p>\n
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Another panel member, Retsef Levi<\/strong>, is a management and health analytics expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been critical of a variety of vaccines and has called for Covid vaccines to be pulled from the market<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n
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Dr.<\/strong> Evelyn Griffin<\/strong>, an obstetrician and gynecologist, questioned the safety and effectiveness of Covid vaccines in a hearing in the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2021. Dr. Kirk Milhoan<\/strong>, a pediatric cardiologist, questioned the safety and effectiveness of Covid vaccines at a 2024 event<\/a> led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia. Catherine M. Stein<\/strong> is an epidemiology professor who in 2022 called for an end to Covid vaccine mandates at universities.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Cody Meissner<\/strong> is a professor of pediatrics who opposed vaccine mandates and has questioned the ongoing need for Covid vaccines for children and pregnant women. He previously served on the advisory committee and is widely considered to be the most qualified member<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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The others are not known to have spoken out against vaccines. They are Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln<\/strong>, a nutritional neuroscientist; Dr. James Pagano<\/strong>, an emergency medicine physician; Hillary Blackburn<\/strong>, a pharmacist; <\/strong>and Dr. Raymond Pollak<\/strong>, a surgeon and transplant specialist.<\/p>\n
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The C.D.C. director has the power to accept or reject the immunization committee\u2019s recommendations. The current acting director is Mr. Kennedy\u2019s deputy at the Department of Health and Human Services, Jim O\u2019Neill<\/strong>, <\/strong>a former biotechnology executive. The previous director, Susan Monarez, said she was forced out<\/a> because she would not agree to accept the newly re-formed committee\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n
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A special adviser to the C.D.C. director, Stuart Burns<\/strong>, is a critical player driving the health secretary\u2019s agenda at the agency. Mr. Burns has been quietly working to remake the immunization committee and its agenda.<\/p>\n
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Mr. Burns is not a scientist but he worked for decades as a staff member for Republican congressmen known for their vaccine skepticism. One is Dr. Dave Weldon, a former representative from Florida who was also Mr. Kennedy\u2019s original choice for C.D.C. director. The White House withdrew Dr. Weldon\u2019s nomination<\/a> just hours before his confirmation hearing because some Senate Republicans were concerned about his stance on vaccines.<\/p>\n
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Mr. Burns works closely with three other Kennedy hires who serve H.H.S. but also work closely with the C.D.C. Dr.<\/strong> Reyn Archer<\/strong> is a former Texas health commissioner who has questioned the safety and value of the Covid vaccine on social media. He serves as a liaison between the health secretary\u2019s office and the C.D.C., and has been helping Mr. Burns to develop and guide the immunization committee.<\/p>\n
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David Geier <\/strong>is a steadfast figure in the anti-vaccine movement<\/a> who has spent more than 20 years trying to establish a link between vaccines and autism, despite scientific consensus that there is none. Mr. Geier, who is listed as a senior data analyst in the H.H.S. directory, was given access to federal data on post-vaccination side effects and is using it to continue his studies on autism.<\/p>\n
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Lyn Redwood<\/strong> is a nurse practitioner and the former head of Children\u2019s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Mr. Kennedy. Since the early 2000s, Ms. Redwood has criticized the use of mercury as a preservative in vaccines. She has said she believes the ingredient is linked to her son\u2019s autism.<\/p>\n
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Now listed as an expert at H.H.S., Ms. Redwood gave a presentation in June to the immunization committee, a role usually reserved for C.D.C. scientists. She said that the mercury preservative in vaccines, known as thimerosal, was toxic to children, even though dozens of studies<\/a> have shown it is harmless in this form. The panel later voted to stop recommending the already limited number of flu vaccines that contained the preservative.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n\nDr. Matthew Memoli<\/h4>\n
Principal deputy director of the N.I.H.<\/p>\n
Skeptical of certain vaccines<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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<\/div>\n\nDr. Jay Bhattacharya<\/h4>\n
N.I.H. director<\/p>\n
Critical of Covid vaccine mandates<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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Dr. Matthew Memoli<\/strong> is a veteran infectious disease scientist at the National Institutes of Health who now serves as its principal deputy director. As a senior researcher under Dr. Anthony Fauci during the pandemic, Dr. Memoli opposed Covid vaccine mandates and declined to get a shot himself.<\/p>\n
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Since becoming a leader of the research agency, Dr. Memoli has downplayed the value of vaccines for certain respiratory diseases, according to the whistle-blower complaints<\/a> of two prominent scientists.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Jay Bhattacharya<\/strong>, the N.I.H director, sharply criticized vaccine mandates as an academic researcher during the pandemic. He co-wrote an anti-lockdown treatise<\/a> in 2020 with Dr. Kulldorff, one of Mr. Kennedy\u2019s selections for the C.D.C. immunization committee.<\/p>\n
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