From WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Wednesday, June

11th. On Monday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he is dismissing the entire Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, that is, the expert panel that for decades has helped guide U.S. vaccine policy.

RFK. Jr. says this is part of his broader effort to, quote, restore trust in public health,

but the vast majority of public health experts argue it's more about dismantling the scientific

infrastructure that has helped steer the country through everything from polio to COVID.

So we're going to talk about what this move might actually mean in practice.

How are vaccines recommended in the U.S. now? What does it mean to fire the people who've been

evaluating safety data for years, all 17 people who are doing that? And how are scientists and

health professionals preparing for this next phase of public health under a deeply

skeptical administration. Joining us now is Dr. Caitlin Jedalina, epidemiologist, data scientist, and

author of the newsletter called Your Local Epidemiologist. She's been following this story closely

and breaking it down for readers.

And as some of you know, she was on with us multiple times during the height of COVID and since.

Dr. Jedolita, always good to have you.

Welcome back to WNIC.

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Good morning.

So give our listeners a little more background. What exactly is the CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices?

Yeah, so for a vaccine or medical device or medication to make it from clinical trials to

public access to your arms, for example, it goes through a pretty, not pretty, it goes

through a really rigorous process, which includes FDA, and also

includes ACIP, which is a external committee made up of pediatricians, immunologists,

...