ALSOBROOKS: MILLIONS OF BABIES’ LIVES AT RISK THANKS TO RFK JR. AND HIS CONSPIRACY THEORIST PANEL

December 5, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) released the following statement after news that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to change the nation's immunization schedule, recommending that America's children wait to get their hepatitis B vaccine - which prevents chronic HepB infection, a leading cause of liver cancer. Universal hepatitis B vaccinations at birth have been extremely effective in reducing infections, and experts agree that it is the best strategy to minimize the risk of transmission to all infants - when they are also most susceptible to develop chronic infection or life-threatening complications from hepatitis B. According to Johns Hopkins, since the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended the hepatitis B vaccination for all newborns in 1991, infections with hepatitis B virus in children and teens have decreased by 99%.

As a reminder, earlier this year, RFK Jr. replaced all 17 non-partisan scientific experts on ACIP with ideologues who have a history of undermining vaccines. Kennedy has since been pushing for the Committee to rubber stamp his dangerous policies that will inevitably roll back access to vaccines for Americans.

"Today is just the latest, and perhaps most dangerous, in a long string of actions by RFK Jr. intended to make Americans sicker. Make no mistake: the Secretary and his sycophants are risking children's lives all to satisfy their own cockamamie conspiracy theories. The federal government is supposed to improve American lives, not kill Americans.

"I became the first Senator to call for RFK Jr. to resign or be fired BECAUSE I knew this is where we were headed.

"I implore Americans to make health care decisions with their doctors and not listen to RFK Jr.'s handpicked conspiracy theorists who clearly have zero interest in science, medicine, or saving American lives.

"This is the moment for my Republican colleagues to put aside their loyalty to this Administration and act on behalf of the American people. In the meantime, I will keep speaking out until this man is no longer our Secretary of Health and Human Services."

RFK Jr.'s most devastating actions this year include (to name just a few - find 200+ actions here):

• Reducing HHS staff by 20,000 employees, including:
  • Mass firings at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), laying off one-quarter of its staff, over 3,000 employees.
  • Firing swaths of scientists and researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• Replacing all 17 non-partisan scientific experts on ACIP with ideologues who have a history of undermining vaccines.
  • Two weeks after RFK Jr. replaced all of the committee's members, the new ACIP announced plans to revisit the childhood vaccine schedule, putting access to vaccines that children have received for decades, such as hepatitis B and polio, in danger. The new ACIP also invited a known vaccine denier and conspiracy theorist to speak on vaccines, and then made recommendations based solely on her pseudoscience-filled presentation.
• Replacing scientific evidence with political ideology and conspiracy theories. Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) that she was fired from her position for refusing to pre-approve Kennedy's vaccine recommendations and fire qualified career scientists. Regarding Kennedy's actions, Dr. Monarez wrote, "The stakes are not theoretical. We have already seen the largest measles outbreak in more than 30 years, which claimed the lives of two children. If vaccine protections are weakened, preventable diseases will return."
• Creating an affordability crisis for the more than 20 million Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces, and advocating for passing a Republican tax bill that left millions of Americans with ACA coverage behind.

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