Paul Offit, a vocal critic of Robert F Kennedy Jr, has been removed from the advisory committee on vaccines for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as Kennedy continues undercutting scientific expertise at federal agencies.
Offit has said that Americans can no longer trust the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of the decisions taken by Kennedy as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Offit has also warned that Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, is attempting to sow doubt and confusion about vaccines in particular in order to drive down vaccination rates across the country.
Beginning in 2017, Offit served two four-year terms on the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). He said he was offered a third term, set to expire in 2027, by FDA officials.
Offit filled out the necessary paperwork, and was put on the list of voting VRBPAC members through 2027.
But as of Tuesday, his name is no longer on the roster of independent advisers.
About a week and a half ago, he said, his contact at the FDA told him that they still wanted him on the committee and that his forms had been cleared by the FDA, “but they’re being held up at HHS”.
Soon after that, Offit said he received an email thanking him for his service on the committee. He was not given a reason for his dismissal.
“What I know to be a fact is that it got held up at HHS. I also know that, according to the person who talked to me, the FDA wanted me to be on that committee,” Offit said.
The news was first reported by Pink Sheet.
“I understand that it’s likely I didn’t get through HHS because Robert F Kennedy Jr may not like me as much as I’d hoped,” Offit said. “I have been critical of the administration. But that’s OK, because it’s OK to have debate about things, it’s OK to question, and then if you think I’m wrong, tell me where I’m wrong.”
Offit appears to be the only member of the committee to be dismissed. Other members are serving terms until 2026 or later.
The health department did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about whether Offit was removed because of his criticisms of Kennedy, or whether other members of the committee would be dismissed.
Kennedy shocked the health community when he abruptly fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June. He replaced the advisers with individuals who have little experience with vaccines or who have taken anti-vaccine stances.
The dismissal of Offit sounded similar to other shake-ups at US health agencies, said Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
“It’s consistent with what the secretary of HHS did with ACIP, remove those who are qualified and vaccine experts and replace them with unqualified ideologues or those who promote pseudoscience,” Hotez said.
Typically, the ACIP releases recommendations on vaccines for the CDC to adopt.
“The FDA has sort of taken over that position in many ways, by becoming both a licensing and recommending body at the same time,” Offit observed.
Last week, Kennedy announced on X that Covid vaccines would be limited to those with health conditions that make them more vulnerable to severe illness. He also revoked the emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children under the age of five.
As the ACIP has not yet convened to make recommendations on the new Covid boosters, some states are waiting to roll out the updated shots, even as Covid cases continue increasing throughout the US.
Sixteen states prohibit pharmacists from administering shots that have not been recommended by the ACIP.
“That’s the law for them,” Offit said. “The pharmacists will only give ACIP-recommended vaccines, and we haven’t heard from them yet.”
He believes the ACIP was targeted in part because the committee’s recommendations form the basis of vaccine mandates for school attendance.
“I think that’s part of it, I do. Because I think the goal is to make it so that vaccines aren’t mandated any more, period. And the way to do that is to do what they did with Covid vaccine – just make it shared clinical decision-making. And I think they’d like to do that for every vaccine,” Offit said.
Although Kennedy pledged not to take away vaccines, he already has, Offit said. In May, Kennedy said the Covid vaccines were no longer recommended for pregnant people, making it much more difficult for pregnant people to access the shots.
But because the VRBPAC plays a different role, Offit believes its fate may be different from the ACIP.
Marty Makary, the head of the FDA, was “trying to protect” VRBPAC, Offit said.
And as long as experienced members remain on the committee, “unlike the ACIP, you’re still going to be getting great advice from the FDA vaccine advisory committee”, he said.
