1. United States
2. Wisc.
3. Letter

I am a mother of two school-age children, a teacher, and a proud member of my community in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I am opposed to Health Secretary RFK Jr.'s unprecedented decision to remove all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replace them with his own appointees. These committee members should be independent medical and public experts who make recommendations based on rigorous scientific review and evidence. ACIP has operated with scientific independence for decades, providing evidence-based vaccine recommendations free from political interference. Replacing the entire panel with handpicked appointees threatens this independence. Disrupting this established process could compromise vaccine safety monitoring and public health protection. The new panel convened just days after the removals, raising questions about adequate vetting and expertise of replacement members. It also disrupts public trust in the CDC and its recommendations, if they are coming from a panel of people with who do not have deep, accurate scientific backgrounds with vaccines and in fact often have a history of promoting misinformation and bad facts about them. I urge you to use your oversight authority to investigate this decision and ensure that vaccine policy remains grounded in rigorous scientific evidence rather than political considerations. The American people – including me, as a mother who has relied on this advice for years -- deserve vaccine recommendations based on independent scientific review, not political appointments.