Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed five more members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ahead of the panel’s meeting this week, the department said Monday.

Among them are a skeptic of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and another affiliated with a group promoting unproven treatments for the virus.

“ACIP safeguards the health of Americans by issuing objective, evidence-based vaccine recommendations,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Its new members bring diverse expertise that strengthens the committee and ensures it fulfills its mission with transparency, independence, and gold-standard science.”

The panel is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday. The agenda includes discussions of and possib

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