By Sarah Owermohle and Meg Tirrell, CNN

(CNN) — US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday dismissed an expert panel of vaccine advisers that has historically guided the federal government’s vaccine recommendations, saying the group is “plagued with conflicts of interest.”

The entirety of the 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the vaccine schedule and required coverage of immunizations, will be retired and replaced with new members, Kennedy announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed . The HHS secretary has authority to appoint and dismiss ACIP members, who typically serve four-year cycles. But removing the entire panel prematurely is unprecedented.

Kennedy said that a num

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