Chairman of vaccine committee leaves for new HHS job

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has replaced the head of his controversial vaccine advisory committee, federal officials announced Monday.

Martin Kulldorff is leaving the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to take a leadership role within the Department of Health and Human Services, officials said.

Dr. Kirk Milhoan, who has blamed vaccines for causing cardiovascular disease, will become the new chair. He had been appointed to the committee in September.

HHS officials issued a press release praising Kulldorff and his work while leading the panel but did not answer additional questions about the changes. Kulldorff did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

The committee makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how already-approved vaccines should be used. CDC directors almost always adopted the committee’s recommendations, which were widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs.

Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel earlier this year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices. He also named Kulldorff as chairman.

Under Kulldorff’s leadership, the group made several decisions that angered major medical groups.

At a June meeting, the panel recommended that a preservative called thimerosal be removed from doses of flu vaccine even though some members acknowledged there was no proof it was causing harm.

In September, the group recommended new restrictions on a combination shot that protects against chickenpox as well as measles, mumps and rubella. The panel also took the unprecedented step of not recommending COVID-19 vaccinations — not even for high-risk populations like seniors — instead making it a matter of personal choice.

Several doctors’ groups said the changes were not based on good evidence, and advised doctors and patients to follow guidance that was previously in place.

Kulldorff’s departure leaves the vaccine committee with 11 members.

It will now be led by Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who with his wife operates a medical missionary organization called For Hearts and Souls. He appeared at a 2024 congressional hearing at which he said an increase in cardiovascular disease in older teens and young adults should be attributed to vaccines.

The committee is scheduled to meet later this week to discuss the pediatric vaccine schedule and hepatitis B shots given to newborns.

Kulldorff is a Swedish-born biostatistician who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm.

During his time as ACIP chair, the committee abandoned its traditional “evidence-to-recommendation” framework, which involved many months of analysis and discussion before proposals came before the full committee for a vote.

In his new role, Kulldorff will become chief science officer within the HHS planning and evaluation office. Officials described the office as the department’s “in-house think tank.”

“I look forward to contributing to the science-based public health policies that will Make America Healthy Again,” Kulldorff said in the HHS press release.

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