A document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to lawmakers to support Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to change U.S. policy on covid vaccines cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others.

The health secretary cited financial conflicts, but a White House official and someone familiar with his thinking said he was also concerned about ties to Democrats.

Just two days after retiring the entirety of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed several prominent critics of the government’s Covid-19 response to that committee.

Kennedy on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week.

(Reuters) -U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s surprise ouster of a national vaccine advisory board, claiming it was "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest," puts new scrutiny on the group that recommends which shots should be administered to the American public.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time vaccine skeptic, has been making sweeping changes to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine.

Offit has served on committees that advise the federal government on the use of vaccines. Earlier this week, Kennedy ignited controversy for dismissing all the members of one advising the CDC.