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HHS Elevates Kulldorff to Senior Policy Role as Milhoan Takes Helm of CDC Vaccine Panel

The move positions a leading skeptic of past COVID-19 policy inside HHS ahead of a reworked panel’s review of the hepatitis B birth-dose recommendation.

FILE - Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference on the Autism report by the CDC at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
FILE - Dr. Martin Kulldorf speaks during a meeting of the Advisory Committee in Immunization Practices at the CDC, June 25, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
© Elijah Nouvelage via Getty Images
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Overview

  • Kulldorff was appointed chief science officer for HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and exited the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
  • Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist appointed to ACIP in September, will chair the 11-member committee starting with this week’s meeting.
  • ACIP is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday in Atlanta with plans to revisit the pediatric schedule and the recommendation to give hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised Kulldorff’s work and described ASPE as the department’s in-house think tank that advises on policy.
  • Major medical groups have criticized recent ACIP departures from prior guidance, including moves on thimerosal in flu shots, restrictions on the MMRV combination vaccine, and shifting COVID-19 vaccination to personal choice.