Robert Malone, vice chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, posted on social media Thursday afternoon that “ACIP has been disbanded.” Hours later, he retracted it.
His original post claimed the government’s response to a federal injunction was to dissolve the panel and rebuild it from scratch, calling that path faster than appealing the court ruling. The claim spread quickly online, prompting immediate reaction from public health advocates.
The celebration was short-lived.
Just before 10 pm ET, Malone posted again, writing that “this was a miscommunication, and in fact the decision about how to proceed has not been made, and dissolving and reforming remains one of [the] options being considered.” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon followed with a statement: “Unless officially announced by us, any assertions about what we are doing next is baseless speculation.”
The episode traces back to Monday, when Federal Judge Brian Murphy issued a temporary injunction blocking the current ACIP members and their votes. According to the ruling, the members were improperly appointed and vaccine recommendations were changed without following required procedural steps. The injunction came after a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups challenging Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s handling of the committee.
Kennedy had previously fired all 17 experts on the original ACIP and hand-selected replacements. Judge Murphy found that most of the new members, including Malone, largely lacked expertise in vaccines and immunizations. The reconstituted panel had held several meetings in which it voted to roll back CDC’s evidence-based vaccine guidance.
A Text, a Retraction, a Complaint
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Malone said he and others were told the committee would be disbanded. The Journal obtained a text message he sent to fellow ACIP members earlier that day, in which he wrote, “I am so, so tired of the HHS incompetence,” and accused the department of trying to throw him “under the bus.” He confirmed the text to the Journal.
Malone also complained publicly that HHS had no plans to defend ACIP members against what he called the judge’s “defamatory characterization” of their qualifications.
Former colleagues have described Malone — who worked on mRNA technology decades ago — as “unhinged” and “pretty wacky.” He has embraced the “anti-vaxxer” label and suggested vaccines cause “a form of AIDS,” among other claims.
What the Law Requires
Advocacy group Defend Public Health said in a statement that whatever path Kennedy chooses, HHS must follow federal regulations as outlined in Judge Murphy‘s ruling. “It seems like the simplest way to do that is to reconstitute the committee that he wrongly fired, which had been put together following proper legal procedures. But if he wants to start from scratch, he still needs to follow the law.”
Whether Kennedy and HHS are actively considering a full reconstitution of ACIP remains unconfirmed, according to the report.
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