RFK Jr’s new vaccine panel votes against preservative in flu shots in shock move

A critical federal vaccine panel has recommended against seasonal influenza vaccines containing a specific preservative – a change likely to send shock through the global medical and scientific community and possibly impact future vaccine availability.

The panel was unilaterally remade by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic who has urged against the use of thimerosal despite a lack of evidence of real-world harm.

Across three votes, members voted in favor of restricting thimerosal in seasonal influenza vaccines across all age groups – with five in favor of the restriction, one abstention and one vote against.

“The risk from influenza is so much greater than the nonexistent – as far as we know – risk from thimerosal,” said Dr Cody Meissner, a panel member and professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine who was the lone “no” vote.

“I would hate for a person not to receive the influenza vaccine because the only availability preparation contains thimerosal – I find that very hard to justify.”

The panel, formally called the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a critical link in the vaccine distribution pipeline – informing health insurers and clinicians alike about which vaccines to give patients.

Kennedy fired all 17 former members of the panel in June, citing conflicts of interest, and appointed eight new members, all of whom are ideological allies of the secretary.

None of the new members have published written conflict of interest disclosures or been added to a Trump administration-developed conflict of interest tracker for ACIP members, as of Thursday morning.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 June 2025