The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee is set to meet for the first time since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the entire panel and appointed his own hand-selected members.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy on Monday night called for federal health officials to postpone this week’s meetings of outside vaccine advisers, citing a small, newly appointed panel and concerns about biases against vaccines.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Thursday he promised to allow U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy to pick a candidate for a key panel of vaccine advisers. Kennedy, who has a long history of questioning the safety of vaccines contrary to scientific evidence,