Havers’ departure comes just days after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replaced them with new appointees. It makes recommendations on use of vaccines in the U.S.

Seventeen vaccine experts who were dismissed from a federal advisory panel last week say they are worried that recent moves by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will destabilize vaccine policy in the US and jeopardize access to lifesaving immunizations.

The 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, who were ousted last week, argued their abrupt dismissal has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened."