Fiona Havers, who oversaw CDC respiratory virus data, told colleagues she no longer had confidence the data would be used objectively to set vaccine policy.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to fire the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) entire vaccine board even as childhood vaccination rates drop is setting off alarm bells for the next school year.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US secretary of health and human services, dismissed all 17 members that make up a key committee advising the US government on vaccine safety and policy, saying that removing the entire panel was the only way to restore public confidence in vaccine science.