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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wants the committee that advises the CDC on vaccines to delay its next meeting, scheduled for later this week, citing concerns that the newly appointed members are biased against vaccines.
In a late Monday post on X, Cassidy said the meeting, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, “should not proceed with a relatively small panel, and no CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Director in place to approve the panel’s recommendations.”
Cassidy said the meeting should instead be delayed until the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) “is fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation.”
He added:
“Although the appointees to ACIP have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology. In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them.”
ACIP makes vaccine-related recommendations to the CDC director, who has the discretion to accept or reject them. The CDC’s acting director was Susan Monarez, Ph.D. She stepped down in March when she was nominated for the permanent director’s position. Last month, Kennedy reported that attorney Matthew Buzzelli is currently acting director, while Monarez awaits U.S. Senate confirmation hearings.
Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, pushed back at Cassidy’s call for a delay. She said:
“Sen. Cassidy is a zealous advocate for Big Pharma‘s vaccines. That he is unhappy with the new ACIP members and its new agenda is unsurprising. Nor is the extraordinary pushback from Big Pharma and its allied professional associations … surprising.
“The bottom line is that strong public support catapulted Robert Kennedy to his current position as secretary. The public is demanding real science and transparency around vaccines. Kennedy must deliver on promises he made in this area, regardless of Sen. Cassidy’s dismay.”
As of press time, there was no indication that this week’s ACIP meeting would be postponed or rescheduled.
Pediatrician Dr. Michelle Perro accused Cassidy and others of habitually overlooking the longstanding conflicts of interest among previous ACIP members.
“The irony doesn’t escape our notice since the previous ACIP committee had significant ties to Pharma — no one seemed to mention or be concerned about that cozy relationship in terms of bias,” Perro said.
RFK Jr.: Former ACIP members ‘a template for medical malpractice’
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed ACIP’s 17 former members and replaced them with eight new members.
ACIP’s new members include critics of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, including Dr. Robert Malone, a physician-scientist and biochemist known for his early contributions to mRNA vaccine technology, and Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., a biostatistician and epidemiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School who co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration.
At a congressional hearing for HHS’ 2026 budget earlier today, Kennedy defended his changes to the ACIP committee. He called the previous members “a template for medical malpractice” during what The New York Times described as a “fiery clash” with Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.).
In response to a question from Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) at today’s hearing, Kennedy denied he had promised Cassidy — who cast the decisive vote to confirm Kennedy as HHS secretary, after telling the Senate that he and Kennedy agreed to an “unprecedently close collaborative relationship” — that he would not make changes to ACIP.
“I never made that agreement,” Kennedy said. “If he said that I agreed to it, it would be inaccurate.”
The Hill reported that Cassidy’s latest remarks “represent the strongest statement he’s made to date about Kennedy or his actions, though he did not mention the secretary by name.”
According to OpenSecrets, Cassidy was the fifth-highest recipient of pharmaceuticals and health products industry donations among U.S. senators in 2023-2024, receiving $328,312. Cassidy received $710,924 in donations from Pharma between 2019 and 2024, and $1,294,078 from health professionals.
Cassidy’s Big Pharma donors include COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, and the CEOs of Pfizer and several other pharmaceutical companies.
ACIP previously ‘sidelined’ voices raising vaccine-related safety concerns
In a post on X earlier this month, Kennedy said ACIP’s new members are “committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.” Some new members previously served on advisory committees for federal public health agencies.
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Kennedy said ACIP had previously been “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest” and acted as a “rubber stamp” for vaccine approvals.
In March 2024, the Biden administration named nine new members to ACIP — all of whom had financial ties to vaccine manufacturers, publicly promoted the COVID-19, RSV or respiratory syncytial virus, and HPV or human papillomavirus vaccines, or both. In January, the outgoing Biden administration stacked ACIP with several new pro-vaccine members.
Previous members of ACIP, including those who approved COVID-19 vaccines, had similar conflicts of interest.
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Drug safety advocate Kim Witczak welcomed Cassidy’s call for a balanced slate of ACIP members — but said ACIP has long been one-sided and “primarily heard from voices that reinforce the benefits of products, while those raising safety concerns are often sidelined, limited to just a few rushed minutes during public comment periods.”
“I don’t believe in politicizing these committees or stacking them with one-sided viewpoints,” Witczak, a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, said. “Balance is essential. The credibility of our public health institutions depends on including independent, non-conflicted experts and lived-experience perspectives.”
HHS, the CDC and Cassidy’s office did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Related articles in The Defender- RFK Jr. Taps 8 New ACIP Members, Offit Concedes Most ‘Seem Reasonable’
- RFK Jr.’s ‘Clean Sweep’ of CDC Vaccine Advisers Draws Mix of High Praise, Harsh Criticism
- Biden Administration Stacked Key Vaccine Review Committee With Pro-vaxxers
- 9 New ‘Independent’ Advisers to CDC Publicly Promoted Vaccines or Took Money From Pharma — or Both
- 14 ACIP Members Who Voted to Jab Your Young Children — and Their Big Ties to Big Pharma
