DECADES OF CORRUPTION: Congressional Report Confirms CDC’s ACIP Has Been Compromised Since the 1990s

As RFK Jr. resets the CDC’s vaccine panel, vaccine ideologues spiral into panic—conveniently forgetting that Congress exposed ACIP’s systemic corruption over two decades ago.

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—the powerful panel tasked with recommending vaccines for the American public.

The reason: systemic corruption, chronic conflicts of interest, lack of transparency, and a well-documented history of rubber-stamping every vaccine placed before it, regardless of emerging safety concerns.

While most of you understand that this is an extraordinarily positive development, pharma-captured mainstream media and vaccine ideologues have spiraled into a full blown panic, as revealed in CBS News:

"This is horrifying," a CDC official said of Kennedy's move.

The American Public Health Association denounced it as an undemocratic "coup" of the process.

The Infectious Disease Society of America called it "reckless, shortsighted and severely harmful."

The American College of Physicians accused Kennedy of having "circumvented the standard, transparent vaccine review processes" at the CDC.

"Today's announcement will seriously erode public confidence in our government's ability to ensure the health of the American public and it will endanger the safety, welfare and lives of our patients," Dr. Jason Goldman, the group's president and a liaison to the committee, said in a statement.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and the top Republican in the Senate's health committee, also expressed concern, saying "now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion."

This was NOT a hostile takeover. It was a long-overdue housecleaning that may save countless American lives.

A Documented History of Corruption

In 2000, the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform published a landmark report confirming that the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel was deeply compromised by industry influence.

The committee uncovered systemic, ongoing conflicts of interest within both the ACIP and the FDA's vaccine advisory counterpart:

• 7 out of 10 members of ACIP’s rotavirus working group—which drafted the recommendation for the Rotashield vaccine—had direct financial conflicts of interest.

• Every ACIP member was granted a conflict-of-interest waiver, regardless of industry ties.

• Members were allowed to vote on vaccine recommendations while holding stock in manufacturers, receiving grants, or serving as paid consultants.

• RotaShield® was taken off U.S. market in 1999. ACIP voted on October 22, 1999 to no longer recommend use of the RotaShield® vaccine for infants because of an association between the vaccine and intussusception.

In sworn testimony, a CDC ethics official admitted:

“We generally give [waivers] to everyone… we give them out freely.”

Named: The Most Compromised ACIP Members

Among the worst examples:

• Dr. Paul Offit — Participated in the ACIP’s rotavirus working group while holding a patent on a competing Merck rotavirus vaccine. He also received a $350,000 grant from Merck and served as a Merck consultant, yet still voted on recommendations that would eventually benefit his product.

  

• Dr. John Modlin — Then-Chair of ACIP, who owned 600 shares of Merck stock while voting on rotavirus policy. He also chaired the rotavirus working group that produced the recommendation.

• Dr. Marie Griffin and Dr. Fernando Guerra — Both had Merck ties through funding, consulting, or grants, yet participated fully in committee decisions.

The Rotashield Disaster

In 1998, ACIP recommended Wyeth’s Rotashield vaccine for routine use in infants. Just 13 months later, the vaccine was pulled from the market after it was linked to a wave of serious bowel obstructions (intussusception) in children.

The U.S. House Committee on Government Reform report revealed:

• ACIP members with conflicts of interest drafted the recommendation in private working groups, shielded from public oversight.

• ACIP voted to recommend the vaccine before the FDA even approved it.

• The committee that approved it was stacked with individuals financially tied to competing vaccine developers.

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ACIP has not functioned as a true scientific body. For decades, it has served as an automated rubber stamper operated by the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex. Since 2020, this troubling reality has only been reinforced by ACIP’s reckless recommendations of COVID-19 mRNA shots, which have resulted in mass injury and death.

For the first time in a generation, there is hope that U.S. vaccine policy may finally be shaped by independent experts who put public safety before profit.

If you’re curious as to what an ACIP meeting can look like, I recommend that you watch the following clip from 2018 where they rubber-stamp the Hepatitis B vaccine:

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

www.mcculloughfnd.org

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