By MIKE STOBBE and LAURAN NEERGAARD

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers alarmed pediatricians Wednesday by announcing inquiries into some long-settled questions about children’s shots.

Opening the first meeting of Kennedy’s handpicked seven-member panel, committee chairman Martin Kulldorff said he was appointing a work group to evaluate the “cumulative effect” of the children’s vaccine schedule — the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood.

Also to be evaluated, he said, is how two other shots are administered — one that guards against liver-destroying hepatitis B and another that combines chickenpox protection with MMR, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

It was an early sign of how the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is being reshaped by Kennedy, a leading antivaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official. He fired the entire 17-member panel this month and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.

“Vaccines are not all good or bad,” Kulldorff said. “We are learning more about vaccines over time” and must “keep up to date.”

His announcement reflected a common message of vaccine skeptics: that too many shots may overwhelm kids’ immune systems or that the ingredients may build up to cause harm. Scientists say those claims have been repeatedly investigated with no signs of concern.

Kids today are exposed to fewer antigens — immune-revving components — than their grandparents despite getting more doses, because of improved vaccine technology, said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced Wednesday that it would continue publishing its own vaccine schedule for children but now will do so independently of the ACIP, calling it “no longer a credible process.”

Dr. Robert Malone, left, listens during a meeting of the Advisory Committee in Immunization Practices at the CDC, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

CDC participants listen to the speakers during a meeting of the Advisory Committee in Immunization Practices, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Participants listen during a meeting of the Advisory Committee in Immunization Practices at the CDC, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) Show Caption 1 of 4 Dr. Robert Malone, left, listens during a meeting of the Advisory Committee in Immunization Practices at the CDC, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart) Expand

“The narrative that current vaccine policies are flawed and need ‘fixing’ is a distortion,” said the AAP’s Dr. Sean O’Leary. “These policies have saved trillions of dollars and millions of lives.”

The ACIP, created more than 60 years ago, helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when. Those recommendations have a big impact on whether insurance covers vaccinations and where they’re available, such as at pharmacies.

After Kennedy’s abrupt dismissal of the existing expert panel, a number of the CDC’s top vaccine scientists — including some who lead the reporting of data and the vetting of presentations at ACIP meetings — have resigned or been moved out of previous positions.

And shortly before Wednesday’s meeting, a Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist appointed to the committee stepped down. According to the Trump administration, he withdrew during a customary review of members’ financial holdings.

Scientists show data that COVID-19 vaccines protect pregnant women and kids

First on the committee’s agenda Wednesday were COVID-19 vaccinations. Kennedy already sidestepped the panel and announced the vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women.

Yet CDC scientists told the panel that vaccination is “the best protection” during pregnancy, and said most children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were unvaccinated.

COVID-19 remains a public health threat, resulting in 32,000 to 51,000 U.S. deaths and more than 250,000 hospitalizations since last fall, according to the CDC. Most at risk for hospitalization are seniors and children under 2 — especially infants under 6 months who could have some protection if their mom got vaccinated during pregnancy, according to the CDC’s presentation.

The new advisers weren’t asked to vote on Kennedy’s recommendations, which raise uncertainty about how easily people will be able to access COVID-19 vaccinations this fall.

After CDC staff outlined multiple overlapping systems that continue to track the vaccines’ safety, several advisers questioned if the real-world data really is trustworthy.

Vote on RSV protections is postponed

Also Wednesday, the committee took up RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants.

In 2023, U.S. health officials began recommending two new measures to protect infants — a lab-made antibody for newborns and a vaccine for pregnant women — that experts say likely drove an improvement in infant mortality. The antibody proved to be 63% to 76% effective against emergency department visits for infants over the last year.

“People need to understand what a spectacular accomplishment these results are,” said ACIP member Dr. Cody Meissner, of Dartmouth.

The committee postponed until Thursday a vote on whether to recommend another company’s newly approved antibody shot as well.

Flu shot recommendations to be debated

At its June meetings, the committee usually refreshes guidance for Americans 6 months and older to get a flu shot, and helps green light the annual fall vaccination campaign.

But a vote set for Thursday also promises controversy.

The panel is set to consider a preservative in a subset of flu shots that Kennedy and some antivaccine groups have falsely contended is tied to autism.

In preparation, the CDC posted a new report confirming that research shows no link between the preservative, thimerosal, and autism or any other neurodevelopmental disorders. By Wednesday afternoon, the analysis had been removed from the committee’s website.

Neergaard reported from Washington.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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The world just got its first look at the inner workings of the new vaccine panel appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and their immediate focus: childhood vaccines.

The eight new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met for the first time on June 25, where ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorf announced at the top of the meeting how the panel plans to reexamine the childhood immunization schedule.

“The number of vaccines that our children and adolescents receive today exceeds what children in most other developed nations receive and what most of us in this room received when we were children,” he said. “In addition to studying and evaluating individual vaccines, it’s important to evaluate the cumulative effect of the recommended vaccine schedule.”

Kulldorff added the committee will also establish workgroups to investigate vaccines that protect against measles, mumps and rubella and hepatitis B.

Kennedy fired all 17 original members of the committee on June 9 and appointed its new members, which included some vaccine skeptics, a few days later.

Their recommendations will have wide-ranging implications, guiding vaccine requirements for schools and impacting a government program offering free vaccinations for about half of America’s kids.

Many experts are concerned the panel’s actions will sow doubt in vaccines that have been deemed safe and effective.

“To raise doubt about our traditional pediatric vaccines that have saved millions of lives, particularly during one of the worst measles outbreaks we have had in years, is irresponsible and will cost lives,” said Dr. Gretchen LaSalle, a family physician in Spokane, Washington, who represents the American Academy of Family Physicians for an ACIP workgroup.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel also reviewed data about COVID-19 vaccines, immediately questioning their safety and effectiveness. They also raised questions about the study design, methodologies and surveillance monitoring systems behind the data, which Dr. Pamela Rockwell, clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, addressed as standard of medical research.

“Our efforts, through a very robust system of checks and balances, are to create vaccines and vaccination programs that result in the most benefit with the least harm,” said LaSalle, from AAFP.

The committee didn’t vote on COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for the fall and isn’t expected to reconvene until “September/October,” according to the CDC website.

‘Stakes are simply too high’: Criticisms and controversies

Public comment during the meeting was a mix of voices raising criticisms and concerns about potential harm, from different perspectives.

Nurses, pediatricians, public health experts and mothers flooded the public comment portion of the meeting to criticize Kennedy’s decision to fire the 17 original ACIP members and advocate the protective benefits of vaccines.

“The Big Cities Health Coalition is deeply concerned that many routine vaccines may soon become inaccessible or unaffordable for millions of Americans if ACIP makes changes based on ideology rather than science,” Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, said during the public comment section. “The stakes are simply too high to let that happen.”

Others criticized vaccine mandates and medical exemption restrictions.

“With many new members in place, the ACIP must now act to prevent continued harm,” said Kim Mack Rosenberg, general counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy.

The planned vote on a new shot for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, was postponed due to time constraints.

The ACIP meeting was held despite a national outcry from health experts, officials and organizations calling for a delay.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, urged officials to wait until the panel is “fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation – as required by law – including those with more direct relevant experience.”

“Although the appointees to ACIP have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology,” Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said in a social media post. “In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them.”

Contributing: Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY.

Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@usatoday.com.

Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is scheduled to testify today in both the House and the Senate to discuss the White House budget proposal.

It will be the first time he has testified before a congressional committee since his confirmation hearing for his Cabinet post.

When he speaks before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, it will be the first time in two decades that an HHS secretary has testified about the president’s budget, according to the panel.

The hearing is likely to shed light on the status of Kennedy’s relationship with committee Chair Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who had expressed concerns about Kennedy’s nomination over his attitude toward vaccines.

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During the confirmation process, Kennedy had agreed to appear before the committee on a quarterly basis, if requested, to secure Cassidy’s support.

Asked whether Kennedy had kept his commitment to not spread misinformation or sow distrust in vaccines, Cassidy recently said: “All I’ll say about the commitments is that so far, he’s lived up them.” Cassidy also said he had a “good working relationship” with Kennedy.

Other Senate Republicans who were on the fence about supporting Kennedy have had positive things to say about him keeping them in the loop.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she often texts the secretary, but still plans to press him on cuts to the National Institutes of Health.

Democrats are also likely to focus on the NIH cutbacks, as well as the measles outbreak, cuts to medical research, prescription drug costs and his vaccines policy, according to multiple senators.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told NBC News that Kennedy should be prepared to answer questions about “some of the alarming statements that he’s made over his tenure as secretary.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said that he might take a more generalized approach “and just ask him, does he think America is investing enough money in science?”

Yesterday, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., who sits on the committee, filed a resolution of disapproval against Kennedy and called on him to resign, citing concerns about cuts to cancer research, the National Firefighter Cancer Registry and IVF. Alsobrooks is expected try to pass the resolution on the Senate floor this week via unanimous consent, but a Senate Republican will most likely block that effort.