HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday named five new members to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, nearly doubling the number of advisors on the panel ahead of a 2-day meeting this week that could impact access to a few vaccines.

Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June and replaced them with eight new members, including several who rose to prominence as critics of vaccines or the United States’ response to COVID-19.

One new member resigned over conflicts of interest before the reconstituted panel met for the first time in June. The remaining seven members used their first votes to remove thimerosal from influenza vaccines, a win for anti-vaxxers, and recommend a new respiratory syncytial virus shot for infants.

Kennedy’s

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