RFK Jr. taps allies and COVID vaccine critics among picks for CDC advisory panel. Here's who's on the list.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday he's naming eight new advisers to serve on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine recommendations committee, after firing the committee's entire previous roster of 17 advisers. 

"All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense. They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations," Kennedy said Wednesday in a post on X.

Kennedy's picks circumvented the usual CDC process for selecting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP. In previous administrations, career agency officials — not political leaders — vetted potential experts before forwarding them to the department for the secretary's approval. 

The panel's influential recommendations are closely watched because they are directly tied to federal policies, like which vaccines insurers are required to cover. 

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