It scares me to think of what’s ahead,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. One of the members of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals,

Of the eight named by Kennedy, perhaps the most experienced in vaccine policy is Meissner, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, who has previously served as a member of both ACIP and the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel.

The new members include well-known vaccine skeptics and others who have been critical of Covid vaccines or pandemic interventions like lockdowns.