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."

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 Health and Human Services Department head ousted all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices just days ago. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who heads the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),