RFK Jr. Accepts Recommendations From Ousted Vaccine Advisers

The health secretary expanded respiratory syncytial virus vaccination access to more adults.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington in a file photograph. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has agreed with advice from an advisory panel that he recently ousted.

Kennedy accepted a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) be recommended for adults aged 50 to 59 who have a factor that places them at increased risk of severe illness, according to an update on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

“With no current CDC Director and pending confirmation of a new CDC Director, this recommendation was adopted by the HHS Secretary on June 25, 2025 and is now an official recommendation of the CDC,” the CDC’s website states.

“The Secretary conducted a thorough review of the latest scientific evidence and public health impact,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the CDC’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Advisers to the CDC during a meeting in April said in a near-unanimous vote that the CDC should expand the availability of RSV vaccines to adults aged 50 to 59.

“What’s swaying me is there clearly are people in that 50 to 59 year sort of age group—for example lung transplant patients, hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients—that would clearly benefit from having access to this vaccine,” Dr. Jane Zucker, one of the advisers, said at the time.

Kennedy in June ousted the entire ACIP, citing in part conflicts of interest.

Kennedy later named new advisers. The remade panel met in June but did not vote on RSV vaccines.

Three RSV vaccines are available in the United States. Shots made by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer are licensed for people younger than 60, but the CDC had previously only recommended them for adults aged 60 and up.

The expanded recommendation for adults aged 50 to 59 is not on the CDC’s adult immunization schedule as of July 8.

Kennedy has also accepted a recommendation from the former advisers to go further with access to vaccines against meningococcal disease. The former advisers said that the CDC should allow a pentavalent vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline to healthy people aged 16 to 23 when two other meningococcal vaccines are indicated during a visit to a doctor.

The updated advice also allows the pentavalent vaccine for people aged at least 10 who “are at increased risk for meningococcal disease (e.g., because of persistent complement deficiencies, complement inhibitor use, or functional or anatomic asplenia).”

Kennedy in May accepted recommendations from the old advisers on chikungunya vaccines and, in June, narrowed CDC recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination, following informal advice from an ACIP subgroup.

He has not yet acted on advice from the remade panel regarding the removal of thimerosal from influenza vaccines and adding a new antibody against RSV for infants.

Mary Holland, president and CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit that Kennedy formerly chaired, told The Epoch Times in an email that the new administration’s approach appears to be more thoughtful when it comes to implementing ACIP’s recommendations “rather than automatically accepting everything the committee endorses.”

“However, these recommendations should never be used to mandate vaccination for anyone in any situation,” she added. “Like all vaccines, the RSV and meningococcal vaccines carry health risks that often outweigh the risks posed by the illnesses they are meant to prevent. There are several limitations in the data used by ACIP when making these recommendations, including the long-term effects of these vaccines on overall health. CHD will continue to participate in the ACIP meetings and discussions and advocate for the transparency we expect from the new committee.”