Penn Medicine professor Paul Offit spoke to The Daily Pennsylvanian about the implications of his removal from the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee earlier this month.
Since 2017, Offit has served two four-year terms — including through the COVID-19 pandemic — on the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Products Advisory Committee. FDA officials offered him a third term that would have expired in 2027, and he was listed as a voting member before being removed earlier this month.
While Offit was not told the reason for his removal, he told the DP that he believed it was due to his vocal criticism of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I’ve had reporters tell me how angry he is about me,” Offit said.
Offit’s dismissal follows similar shake-ups across federal health agencies — including the removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June. Kennedy has received widespread criticism from the scientific community for replacing the committee with individuals who have little experience with vaccines or who hold anti-vaccine views.
“[Kennedy] wants to be able to have his own fixed, immutable science beliefs, and if he’s surrounded by experts, it’s going to make it hard for him,” Offit said.
Offit argued that Kennedy’s rhetoric has “caused an erosion in confidence in vaccines,” citing the “biggest measles outbreak we’ve had in 33 years.”
He also alleged that recent federal communications has contributed to rising misinformation and public distrust in science, pointing to the Trump administration’s recent comments on Tylenol — whose active ingredient, acetaminophen, has been controversially linked to autism.
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Offit added that he believes much of Kennedy’s influence stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic, as mass federally mandated shutdowns frustrated a large portion of the United States population.
“One thing [Kennedy] said that I agree with is that he’s a product of COVID, that he wouldn't be in his position were it not for COVID,” Offit said. “In the first [years] after the pandemic, I think we did lose public trust.”
Experts in the scientific community have partly attributed public distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine to poor communication about its purpose. Offit claimed that Kennedy “wants things to be confusing,” further arguing that if the public is confused, “they’re less likely to be vaccinated.”
Still, he remains optimistic that the Trump administration’s negative effects on the scientific community could be reversed.
“I think we’re gonna get through this. I do. I think that there’s enough will in this country to push back on this,” Offit added.
Offit — one of the nation’s premier infectious disease experts — also serves as the director of the vaccine education center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of virology and immunology and has authored more than 160 scientific papers.
