The 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, who were ousted last week, argued their abrupt dismissal has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened."

Seventeen vaccine experts who were dismissed from a federal advisory panel last week say they are worried that recent moves by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will destabilize vaccine policy in the US and jeopardize access to lifesaving immunizations.

Kennedy Jr. poses a direct threat to American health. Far from restoring trust—Kennedy’s stated aim—this action dismantles a process that was a model for the world, built over six decades, and will create confusion for doctors,