A document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to lawmakers to support Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to change U.S. policy on covid vaccines cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s surprise ouster of a national vaccine advisory board, claiming it was "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest," puts new scrutiny on the group that recommends which shots should be administered to the American public.

Kennedy’s decision to “retire” the previous 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was widely decried by doctors’ groups and public health organizations

Just two days after retiring the entirety of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed several prominent critics of the government’s Covid-19 response to that committee.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices helps the agency make recommendations on who should get certain vaccines.

The health secretary cited financial conflicts, but a White House official and someone familiar with his thinking said he was also concerned about ties to Democrats.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apparently embraces the outdated "miasma theory" of disease instead of the widely accept "germ theory" of disease, which may help explain some of the actions he's been taking.

Kennedy's picks circumvented the usual CDC process for selecting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. In previous administrations, career agency officials — not political leaders — vetted potential experts before forwarding them to the department for the secretary's approval.