Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dismantled more than a quarter of the Department of Health and Human Services’ expert advisory committees, according to Ars Technica. A new report from Public Citizen details the scale of the damage across NIH, CDC, and FDA, which form the backbone of America’s public health infrastructure.
The terminated panels weren’t obscure bureaucratic leftovers. They covered childhood vaccines, Alzheimer’s disease, long COVID, newborn heritable diseases, healthcare infection control, rural health, and the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). One of the axed groups, the NIH Center for Scientific Review Advisory Council, had been advising on research fund allocation since 1988.
What got cut
The numbers paint a grim picture:
- NIH: Center for Scientific Review Advisory Council terminated
- CDC: Nine advisory committees cut, including undermining of ACIP (the panel that guides US vaccine policy)
- FDA: Four committees terminated, covering arthritis, medical imaging drugs, pharmaceutical sciences, and patient engagement
- Additional panels: Those focused on health equity, novel technology, and rural health were also eliminated or undermined
The autism panel problem
While Kennedy was busy cutting legitimate scientific advisory groups, HHS appointed 21 new members to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee in January. At least eight of those new members share Kennedy’s debunked belief that vaccines cause autism. The response from the scientific community was swift: autism researchers and advocates formed their own nongovernmental advisory committee to counter anticipated misinformation from the federal panel.
That’s a remarkable development. When independent scientists feel compelled to create a parallel advisory structure because the official one has been compromised, it signals a serious institutional crisis.
Why this matters
These advisory committees serve a specific, critical function. They bring external scientific expertise into federal decision-making on drug approvals, vaccine policy, and biomedical research priorities. Without them, HHS operates in a vacuum.
“All Americans, including patients, lawmakers, and scientists, have every right to be incensed at the damage Trump has done to federal health advisory committees,” said Michael Abrams, senior health researcher at Public Citizen and author of the report. He warned that “silencing and biasing external experts makes HHS vulnerable to stagnation and corruption that erodes the health of all Americans.”
The report’s most concerning conclusion: the damage may be difficult to quickly reverse. Advisory committees require recruiting top scientists willing to serve, establishing institutional processes, and building trust between external experts and federal agencies. That infrastructure took decades to build.
For anyone working in biomedical research, drug development, or public health, this is a direct threat to the systems that guide evidence-based policy in the US. The full details are available in the original Ars Technica report.