RFK Jr. has appealed a decision that wiped out its vaccine advisory group

Drama

Days after the decision, Robert Malone — a former anti-vaccine researcher and conspiracy theorist who served as ACIP’s vice chairman under Kennedy — had a public spat with an HHS spokesperson. he left the committee very angry. It started when Malone posted on social media:

ACIP has been terminated. The government has responded to the case of AAP with the order of judge Murphey (sic) and to remove and reorganize the new committee of ACIP, because this will take less time than it would be necessary to submit and prosecute. There will be no action from the government to respond to defamation of former ACIP members.

A few hours later, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon contradicted the statement, telling Ars Technica in a statement: “Unless it is officially announced by us, any comments about what we are doing next are pure speculation.”

Malone then resigned, saying, “After Andrew messed with the press, I was done with CDC and ACIP. That was the last straw. Suffice it to say, I don’t like drama, and I have better things to do.”

Although the notice of appeal filed late Wednesday contradicts Malone’s original claims, he may not have been wrong in suggesting that Kennedy wanted to create a new ACIP. Earlier this month, Kennedy rewrote ACIP’s charter, giving himself the ability select anti-vaccination agents without vaccine expertise and vaccination to the group. He also shifted the group’s focus to alleged vaccine injuries, linking them to the views of anti-vaccinators.