Just two days after retiring the entirety of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed several prominent critics of the government’s Covid-19 response to that committee.

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,

The health secretary cited financial conflicts, but a White House official and someone familiar with his thinking said he was also concerned about ties to Democrats.

(Reuters) -U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s surprise ouster of a national vaccine advisory board, claiming it was "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest," puts new scrutiny on the group that recommends which shots should be administered to the American public.

Offit has served on committees that advise the federal government on the use of vaccines. Earlier this week, Kennedy ignited controversy for dismissing all the members of one advising the CDC.

Multiple new members have voiced anti-vaccine views that are not based in scientific evidence. Their actions could shape the way insurers, doctors and the public make decisions about immunizations.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time vaccine skeptic, has been making sweeping changes to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine.