{"id":899141,"date":"2026-04-14T13:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/cdc-vaccine-adviser-malone-steps-down-to-avoid-drama\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:18:59","slug":"cdc-vaccine-adviser-malone-steps-down-to-avoid-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/cdc-vaccine-adviser-malone-steps-down-to-avoid-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC vaccine adviser Malone steps down to avoid \u2018drama\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Robert Malone, an ideological ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is stepping away from the\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s vaccine advisory committee following a court ruling that effectively nullified\u00a0the panel.<\/p>\n

Malone was one of several picks by Kennedy\u00a0in a controversial reworking of the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last year.\u00a0Malone said Tuesday that he won\u2019t be a part of any attempt to reform the panel after a feud with HHS personnel on whether the court ruling would be appealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A federal judge last week blocked the vaccine panel\u2019s controversial changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and called into question the panel\u2019s validity, essentially kneecapping it\u00a0from any future actions.<\/p>\n

[Related: Judge blocks vaccine changes by RFK Jr.\u2019s advisory panel<\/a>] <\/em><\/p>\n

Malone posted on social media that the decision wouldn\u2019t be appealed, which was contradicted by\u00a0HHS spokeman Andrew Nixon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Andrew trashing me with the press, I am done with the CDC and ACIP,\u201d Malone said in a text message Tuesday morning. \u201cThat was the last straw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuffice to say I do not like drama, and have better things to do,\u201d Malone added.<\/p>\n

A physician and biochemist, Malone had questioned the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to FactCheck.org, elevated\u00a0unfounded claims about the disease.<\/p>\n

While on the panel, he supported more limited COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, arguing that Americans should be guided by consultations with\u00a0health care providers rather than \u201cpropaganda, marketing and other activities that are not based in an actual, real world assessment of their risks and benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was involved in some early research of mRNA technology and had earlier served in advisory roles for HHS and the Department of Defense, with expertise in\u00a0molecular biology, immunology and vaccine development.<\/p>\n

HHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Rich Danker on Tuesday contacted CQ Roll Call alongside former ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorff, who now serves as the HHS chief science officer for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Kulldorff\u00a0read a\u00a0statement acknowledging Malone\u2019s departure and defending\u00a0Nixon:\u00a0\u201cIn light of the court ruling and the enormous amount of volunteer time provided by ACIP members to enhance public health, I can sympathize with his decision to step away. As for Andrew Nixon, I found him to be professional and honest in all his work supporting ACIP.\u201d Kulldorff and Danker declined\u00a0further comment.<\/p>\n

Malone\u2019s departure represents the latest drama for the panel, which began last summer when Kennedy fired all 17 committee members and replaced them with handpicked ideological allies, many of whom are vaccine skeptics.<\/p>\n

The committee made several major changes to the childhood vaccine schedule in recent months, including removing the recommendation for the birth-dose hepatitis B vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, annual flu shot and others. Before it was kneecapped by the courts, the committee planned to continue reevaluating that schedule, a priority for Kennedy and the \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

The CDC vaccine advisory is barred from convening until a decision is reached in the court case. The committee typically develops recommendations on the use of vaccines, including new flu shots and COVID-19 boosters, after Food and Drug Administration approval. New vaccines can still go into circulation without the CDC panel\u2019s input.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration faces a deadline to nominate<\/a> a new CDC director this week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Jeanice Center
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Malone, an ideological ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is stepping away from the\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s vaccine advisory committee following a court ruling that effectively nullified\u00a0the panel. Malone was one of several picks by Kennedy\u00a0in a controversial reworking of the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":899142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23707,22346],"tags":[17417,12453],"class_list":["post-899141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adviser","category-vaccine","tag-adviser","tag-vaccine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}