The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) is deeply disturbed by statements made by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the agency’s June 9 press release, “HHS Takes Bold Step to Restore Public Trust in Vaccines by Reconstituting ACIP.”
The secretary stated:
- “Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” Secretary Kennedy said. “The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies.”
- “A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Kennedy concluded. “ACIP new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas. The entire world once looked to America health regulators for guidance, inspiration, scientific impartiality, and unimpeachable integrity. Public trust has eroded. Only through radical transparency and gold standard science, will we earn it back.”
Secretary Kennedy has, so far, not produced reliable evidence showing that ACIP members have acted in a biased manner in their volunteer service to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention. Such statements undermine the comprehensive, scholarly analysis that members of the committee and its workgroups devote to every vaccine decision. For decades, ACIP has been managed in a transparent manner with publicly available agendas, open meetings and public comment periods.
Erosion in vaccine science can be traced to misinformation spread on social media, which has been repeatedly disproved. NAPNAP believes the secretary’s decision to terminate the volunteer service of current ACIP members with the stated goal of restoring public trust will only increase vaccine misinformation. The fact that HHS says the secretary “will replace them with new members currently under consideration” is alarming in its lack of transparency and failure to adhere to standard protocol in appointing vaccine experts.
NAPNAP supports all evidence-based efforts to have every infant, child, adolescent and adult receive all age-appropriate immunizations on time. Vaccines are safe and effective, have undergone a thorough review and recommendation process, and are carefully surveilled using multiple safety surveillance processes to detect if changes are needed.
Immunization is the No. 1 preventative health care measure to protect our children and families from infectious disease. NAPNAP urges the CDC to fully evaluate ACIP candidates’ scientific/medical credentials, including but not limited to education, certification, research experience, peer-reviewed publication, and scholarly presentation. Children and families deserve no less.
June 10, 2025
