A doctor who has appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast has been appointed to America’s top vaccine panel despite his controversial views.
Former University of Maryland physician Dr. Robert Malone, known for promoting the false theory that Covid vaccines caused the deaths of millions of individuals, has been chosen to serve on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the CDC.
Alongside seven other medical professionals, Malone, who previously appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2021, will contribute to ACIP by providing guidance on vaccination schedules and related policies.
Malone has drawn controversy for comparing Covid vaccination requirements to actions from Nazi history and asserting that the use of the discredited treatments ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine could have potentially saved over half a million lives during the pandemic.
Robert F Kennedy Junior has filled the vaccine panel with people he claimed were ‘highly credentialed scientists’ and ‘leading public health experts’. The appointment came days after RFK Jr fired the group’s 17 established members.
But at least four of the new appointees have links to anti-vaccine groups or have previously made comments disparaging Covid vaccine mandates or the vaccines.
Also among them is Retsef Levi, an MIT operations manager with no medical degree, who has called for the mRNA Covid shots to be pulled from the market, saying they are causing serious harm and deaths in young people.
Vicky Pebsworth, a member of the oldest anti-vaccine group in the US called the National Vaccine Information Center, has also been added to the eight-member panel.
Robert Malone is pictured above on the Joe Rogan podcast in December 2021, where he likened Covid vaccine uptake to Nazi Germany
Experts have slammed the appointments, raising concerns over their links to vaccine skepticism and saying the Trump administration has lost the trust of the medical community.
Among the most controversial new appointees is Malone, who appeared on a now infamous episode of the Joe Rogan podcast in December 2021.
At the time, he declared that vaccine uptake required the same kind of mass obedience as Nazi Germany, calling it ‘mass formation psychosis’.
He has also made claims such as: ‘You are more likely to become infected, have disease, or even die, if you’ve been vaccinated with the Covid vaccine compared to the unvaccinated.’
Malone has also previously expressed doubt about measles vaccination, claiming two girls who died from measles in Texas died due to medical error rather than their infection.
He has claimed mRNA vaccines permanently damage DNA and the immune system, even though there is no evidence this is the case.
In fact, Covid vaccines have been credited with saving more than 3.2million lives and preventing 18million hospitalizations in the US alone.
Malone is a major player in the anti-vaccine movement, and claims that his research was used to help create the mRNA vaccines.
He did carry out studies in 1989 demonstrating how mRNA could be delivered into cells using lipids, or microscopic bubbles of fats, but scientists say much more research was needed to eventually develop the vaccines.
But experts say his involvement in pioneering the tech has been greatly exaggerated.
Pictured above are the eight individuals that have been appointed to the new ACIP committee. From top left to bottom right: Robert Malone, Dr Martin Kulldorf, Dr Joseph Hibbeln, Retsef Levi, Dr Cody Meissner, Vicky Pebsworth
Another controversial pick is Levi, an MIT operations manager with no medical degree, who has called for Covid shots to be pulled from the market.
He is concerned by myocarditis, saying there is evidence that it is already causing harm and death among young people.
He said previously: ‘I think there is no other ethical or scientific choice but to pull out of the market these medical products and stop all mRNA vaccination programs.
‘This [mRNA Covid vaccine] is clearly the most failing medical product in the history of medical products. In terms of efficacy and safety.’
Myocarditis is a rare complication of the Covid vaccine, but is more common among young men — affecting about one in 15,000. The condition is mild, and normally goes away on its own without any medical intervention.
Concerns have been raised over Pebsworth, although she did previously advise the FDA’s vaccines advisory committee as a consumer advocate.
She is the only woman appointed to the committee, and the mother of a child who suffered serious long-term health problems after receiving seven vaccines in one doctor’s visit at the age of 15 months.
Praising his picks, RFK Junior said on X: ‘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.’
The ACIP was set up to analyze the latest data on the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and to make recommendations on who should receive which vaccines and when they should be inoculated. It also meant to review the schedule for childhood immunizations.
The CDC, which is currently without a director, is not required to follow the advice of the committee, but often does.
Dr Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, was quick to raise concerns over RFK Junior’s actions to DailyMail.com earlier this week, saying: ‘He is an anti-vaccine activist. I think he will do everything he can to distort the current vaccine infrastructure and sow distrust in vaccine recommendations.’
Trump and RFK Jr have both promised to overhaul America’s health agencies and address the ‘overmedicalization’ of children, including addressing vaccine schedules
He added: ‘RFK has fixed immutable scientific beliefs and he is going to follow them because he thinks vaccines are hurting children, and he is going to do everything he can to get uptake down.’
Former panel member Dr Noel Brewer slammed the new appointments, telling NBC News: ‘The new panel is missing all of the expertise that has come before them.
‘They don’t know how to go about looking at the evidence, how to think about the volumes of data that will be coming their way.’
Dr Brewer was required to go through a nearly two year process to join the committee, that included writing an essay on vaccines and filling in 20 to 30 forms.
Also among the scientists picked to serve on the committee is Dr Martin Kulldorff, a Swedish biostatistician who was the lead author of the Great Barrington Declaration — which called for lockdowns to end for everyone except the vulnerable and elderly.
He has been generally supportive of vaccines, including the measles vaccine — writing on X in 2022 that it is ‘very effective’ and ‘does not cause autism’.
But he railed against much of the Covid-era policy during the pandemic, including Covid tests for children — saying there was little point in swapping young children, who were generally at very low risk from the virus.
He was fired from his role at Harvard University in 2024, which he says was because of his opposition to Covid vaccine mandates.
He was on the CDC’s Covid Vaccine Safety Working Group from 2020 to 2021, but after he publicly opposed a pause to the roll out of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine he was removed from the group.
Among other picks was Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who previously held positions at the NIH.
His research does not focus on vaccines, however, but instead on omega-3 fatty acids and the neurocognitive development of children whose mothers consumed seafood during pregnancy.
The CDC panel is set to meet later this month to make recommendations on vaccines, including those for children (stock)
His appointment may be a nod to the Mennonite community at the center of the Texas measles outbreak, who RFK Junior visited and whose members said they preferred to treat patients with omega-3 fatty acids.
The eight members appointed are the minimum number needed for the committee to meet as planned on June 25 to 27.
At this meeting, they will vote on the recommendations for vaccines against coronavirus, influenza, meningococcal, HPV and RSV for adults, pregnant women and infants.
RFK Junior has said he has also asked them to consider the childhood immunization schedule.
Also on the committee is Dr Cody Meissner, a pediatrics professor who was on the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel. He has opposed Covid vaccine requirements for children.
Dr Michael Ross was also selected, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and Dr James Pagano, who is an emergency medicine physician.
