WASHINGTON D.C. — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines and pledged to replace them with his own picks.

The 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had been in a state of flux since Kennedy took over. Its first meeting this year had been delayed when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abruptly postponed its February meeting.

Kennedy, who was one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists before becoming the nation’s top health official, recently took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the panel.

Kennedy, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, said the committee members had too many conflicts of interest. Committee members routinely disclose any possible conflicts at the start of public meetings.

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