One of the eight new members appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to sit on a vaccine advisory panel found national fame with a controversial appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.
In an X post on Wednesday, Kennedy announced that he had appointed eight new doctors and researchers to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The expert panel guides the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as the Department of Health and Human Services, to make the “most appropriate selection of vaccines and related agents” to effectively manage vaccine-preventable diseases within the country, per the CDC.
Earlier this week, Kennedy fired all 17 previous members of the panel and reinstated eight new ones—a decision he described as a “major step toward restoring public trust in vaccines.”
“I’m now repopulating ACIP with the eight new members who will attend ACIP’s scheduled June 25 meeting,” Kennedy continued. “The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians. All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense. They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.”
One of the eight new members, Dr. Robert Malone, was previously the subject of intense scrutiny—and, in some circles, praise—for conspiracies he touted about the COVID-19 virus and vaccine in a 2021 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
At the time, Dr. Malone argued that parts of the population had been “hypnotized” by health professionals into believing that their reports and recommendations on COVID-19 were true. He also questioned the severity of the virus and drew comparisons between the COVID-19 vaccine and Nazi medical experiments, per The New York Times.
Dr. Malone, who played an early role in mRNA research and claims to be the inventor of the technology, was criticized in an open letter from more than 250 healthcare professionals and researchers following the episode for “broadcasting misinformation.”
“On Dec. 31, 2021, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), a Spotify-exclusive podcast, uploaded a highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757),” the January 2022 open letter to Spotify read. “The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In a 2022 profile for The New York Times, Dr. Malone dismissed fact-checks of his claims as “attacks” and maintained that he received pushback because anything that questions guidance from institutions like the CDC is quickly labeled as misinformation.
Meanwhile, the seven other members Kennedy appointed include: Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, Dr. Martin Kulldorff (who criticized pandemic protocols in 2020), Dr. Retsef Levi, Dr. Cody Meissner, Dr. James Pagano, Dr. Vicky Pebsworth, and Dr. Michael A. Ross.
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