Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday that he has selected eight new people to join the national vaccine panel after firing all 17 of its members. 

In an X post, Kennedy revealed that he ‘took a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines’ on Monday by reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). 

‘I retired the 17 current members of the committee. I’m now repopulating ACIP with the eight new members who will attend ACIP’s scheduled June 25 meeting,’ Kennedy wrote on Wednesday. ‘The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians. All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.’ 

The new members are: Joseph R. Hibbeln, MD; Martin Kulldorff, MD, PhD; Retsef Levi, PhD; Robert W. Malone, MD; Cody Meissner, MD; James Pagano, MD; Vicky Pebsworth, OP, PhD, RN; and Michael A. Ross, MD. 

The secretary said all eight people ‘have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.’ He said the committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule.’

Notably, Kulldorff was one of the co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which was written alongside Dr. Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University. 

The declaration, published in October 2020, promoted lifting lockdown orders sooner and allowing COVID-19 to spread among young, healthy people to more quickly reach herd immunity. The strategy also included precautions to shield those most vulnerable to severe illness, and the authors said the approach would help mitigate the long-term societal and economic harms of prolonged lockdown orders. 

It was condemned harshly at the time by the World Health Organization and Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

On Tuesday, before he announced his picks, Kennedy said, ‘We’re going to bring great people onto the ACIP panel – not anti-vaxxers – bringing people on who are credentialed scientists.’

Kennedy on Monday ousted all 17 members of the ACIP, saying he would appoint a new group before the next scheduled meeting in late June. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been posted, but a recent federal notice said votes are expected on vaccinations against flu, COVID-19, HPV, RSV and meningococcal bacteria. 

ACIP members typically serve staggered four-year terms, although several appointments were delayed during the Biden administration before positions were filled last year. The voting members all have scientific or clinical expertise in immunization, except for one ‘consumer representative’ who can bring perspective on community and social facets of vaccine programs. The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kennedy provided a brief biography of each of his new picks. 

Hibbeln is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist with a career in clinical research, public health policy and federal service. 

‘As former Acting Chief of the Section on Nutritional Neurosciences at the National Institutes of Health, he led research on immune regulation, neurodevelopment, and mental health,’ Kennedy wrote. ‘His work has informed U.S. public health guidelines, particularly in maternal and child health. With more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and extensive experience in federal advisory roles, Dr. Hibbeln brings expertise in immune-related outcomes, psychiatric conditions, and evidence-based public health strategies.’ 

Kulldorff is a biostatistician and epidemiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School and a leading expert in vaccine safety and infectious disease surveillance. 

‘He has served on the Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, where he contributed to national vaccine safety monitoring systems,’ Kennedy wrote, adding that he developed tools used ‘for detecting disease outbreaks and vaccine adverse events.,’ and has expertise that ‘includes statistical methods for public health surveillance, immunization safety, and infectious disease epidemiology.’

Levi is the Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a leading expert in healthcare analytics, risk management, and vaccine safety. 

‘Dr. Levi has collaborated with public health agencies to evaluate vaccine safety, including co-authoring studies on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and their association with cardiovascular risks. His research has contributed to discussions on vaccine manufacturing processes, safety surveillance, and public health policy,’ Kennedy wrote, adding that Levi ‘has also served on advisory committees and engaged in policy discussions concerning vaccine safety and efficacy,’ and that his ‘work continues to inform national and international debates on immunization safety and health system resilience.’ 

Malone is a physician-scientist and biochemist known for his early contributions to mRNA vaccine technology, specifically ‘foundational research in the late 1980s on lipid-mediated mRNA delivery, which laid the groundwork for later developments in mRNA-based therapeutics,’ Kennedy wrote, adding that Malone’s ‘expertise spans molecular biology, immunology, and vaccine development.’

Meissner is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and a nationally recognized expert in pediatric infectious diseases and vaccine policy. 

‘He has served as Section Chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and has held advisory roles with both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),’ Kennedy wrote, adding that Meissner was a voting member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, through which ‘he has contributed to national immunization guidelines and regulatory decisions.’

‘His expertise spans vaccine development, immunization safety, and pediatric infectious disease epidemiology. Dr. Meissner has also been a contributing author to American Academy of Pediatrics policy statements and immunization schedules, helping shape national standards for pediatric care.’ 

Pagano is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician with over 40 years of clinical experience following his residency at UCLA. 

‘He has worked in diverse emergency settings, from Level 1 trauma centers to small community hospitals, caring for patients across all age groups, including infants, pregnant women, and the elderly,’ Kennedy wrote, adding that he has also served on various committees and medical executive boards. ‘He is [a] strong advocate for evidence-based medicine.’

Pebsworth earned a doctorate in public health and nursing from the University of Michigan. 

‘She has worked in the healthcare field for more than 45 years, serving in various capacities, including critical care nurse, healthcare administrator, health policy analyst, and research scientist with a focus on public health policy, bioethics, and vaccine safety,’ Kennedy wrote, pointing to her current leadership role with the National Association of Catholic Nurses, and previous positions with the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee’s 2009 H1N1 Vaccine Safety Risk Assessment Working Group and Vaccine Safety Working Group.

Ross is a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University, with a career spanning clinical medicine, research, and public health policy. 

‘He has served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Breast and Cervical Cancer, where he contributed to national strategies for cancer prevention and early detection, including those involving HPV immunization,’ Kennedy wrote, pointing to his experience with ‘clinical investigations with immunologic relevance,’ advising organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and advocacy efforts related to women’s health. 

‘His continued service on biotech and healthcare boards reflects his commitment to advancing innovation in immunology, reproductive medicine, and public health,’ Kennedy added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The war of words between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, appears to be over, and there are signs of some reconciliation.

However, a new poll suggests that the verbal attacks by Musk, who spent the first four months of Trump’s second administration as a special White House advisor steering the recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have hurt his standing among Republicans.

Sixty-two percent of Republicans hold a favorable opinion of Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released on Wednesday.

That is down 16 points from a Quinnipiac survey in March, when 78% of Republicans viewed Musk in a favorable way.

Among all voters, 30% held a favorable opinion of Musk, with 57% viewing him unfavorably. Favorable opinions of Musk dropped six points from Quinnipiac’s March survey, with the unfavorable rating holding steady.

Musk went all in for Trump last summer and autumn. He endorsed the then-GOP presidential nominee in July right after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Musk became the top donor of the 2024 election cycle, dishing out nearly $300 million in support of Trump’s bid through America PAC, a mostly Musk-funded super PAC aligned with Trump.

Trump named Musk to steer DOGE soon after the November election, and the president repeatedly praised Musk during his headline-making and controversial tenure at DOGE.

The feud broke out days after Musk left the White House late last month, as he dubbed the administration’s massive landmark spending bill – which Trump calls his ‘big, beautiful bill’ – a ‘disgusting abomination,’ which he said would sink the nation into unsustainable debt.

Musk also argued that Trump would not have won last year’s presidential election without all his support. 

Trump and Musk traded fire with blistering social media posts, with Musk even claiming without evidence that the government was concealing information about Trump’s association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Musk later deleted the post.

Musk on Wednesday wrote on his well-watched X account, ‘I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.’

Trump said in a podcast interview with the New York Post that was published on Wednesday that ‘things like that happen. I don’t blame him for anything.’

However, when asked about Musk’s apology as he spoke with reporters later in the day, the president said ‘I really haven’t thought too much about it.’

During his months at DOGE, Musk aimed, but fell far short, of trimming $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget.

According to the Quinnipiac poll, 38% of voters said that Musk did an excellent or good job at DOGE, with 57% describing his tenure as not so good or poor.

However, 80% of Republicans questioned said Musk’s work was excellent or good, with just 13% viewing his tenure at DOGE as not so good or poor.

‘Though Musk isn’t as popular with Republicans as he once was, he and DOGE get a hearty high five from a healthy majority of Republicans,’ Quinnpiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted June 5-9, with 1,265 registered voters across the country questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

The fate of President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion spending cuts request could rest on the shoulders of a handful of moderate House Republicans.

The House of Representatives is set to consider the measure on Thursday afternoon, which cuts $8.3 billion in funds to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and just over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which routes federal funds to NPR and PBS.

But at least four GOP lawmakers are known to have expressed some concerns about various aspects of the package. 

House Republican leaders have a razor-thin, three-seat majority in the chamber, which means any dissent beyond that could sink the bill.

None of the four Republicans – Reps. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., David Valadao, R-Calif., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and Don Bacon, R-Neb. – have said how they will vote on the bill, however. They also all approved a procedural vote to allow for debate on the measure.

But Amodei, co-chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday afternoon that he was not worried about NPR and PBS’ national brands, with which he acknowledged the GOP’s bias concerns, and that his fear was gutting funding to smaller local outlets that rely on federal funding to keep people informed in areas with less access.

‘These aren’t the people that are doing editorial boards that are flipping you the bird,’ Amodei argued to his fellow Republicans. ‘They’re kind of important pieces of infrastructure in their communities.’

Amodei, who is intimately familiar with the government funding process as a House appropriator, said ‘a whole bunch of red counties’ depend on public broadcast funding.

‘It’s easier for the nationals to raise money if they’ve got to make up for some funding they lost than it is these guys,’ he said.

Valadao, who represents a California swing district, told Politico he was not sure if the measure would pass.

He declined to elaborate on his concerns to Fox News Digital, however, and his office did not respond to a request for clarification.

Meanwhile, Malliotakis told reporters on Wednesday that she met with Republican voters in her district who wanted PBS funding preserved – but that her real concern was the process.

‘I think that there’s a lot of questions that members have regarding what programs specifically are going to be cut. This is a broad look at general accounts. We are, at the end of the day, the Congress that holds the power of the purse. We’re the ones who we’re supposed to be identifying where funding is going. And this gives a lot of discretion to the White House to be doing that unilaterally without Congress,’ Malliotakis said.

‘I think there’s a large number of members that do have concerns about that. And whether members are going to vote yes or no is a different story in this place. But I have, certainly, reservations… and we’ll see how things go.’

Bacon, one of three House Republicans representing a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, told reporters Tuesday morning that he was feeling better about the legislation after getting assurances that the foreign aid cuts would not gut money for critical medical research.

He did not say whether his earlier concerns about PBS and NPR were alleviated, however, nor did he say how he would vote on the bill.

Bacon told reporters last week, ‘It does bother me, because I have a great rapport with Nebraska Public Radio and TV.’

When reached for comment, his office pointed Fox News Digital to Bacon’s Wednesday morning appearance on C-SPAN.

‘I think the president has to work with us and make this better. So I’m in opposition. That said, I’m in current negotiations with the leadership on this as well,’ Bacon said.

The $9.4 billion proposal is called a rescissions package, a mechanism for the White House to block congressionally approved funding it disagrees with.

Once transmitted to Capitol Hill, lawmakers have 45 days to approve the rescissions proposal, otherwise it is considered rejected. 

Such measures only need a simple majority in the House and Senate to pass. But that’s no easy feat with Republicans’ thin majorities in both chambers.

If passed, Republican leaders hope the bill will be the first of several rescissions packages codifying spending cuts identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk set out with a goal of finding $2 trillion in federal waste, but wound up identifying about $180 billion.

House GOP leaders lauded the proposal during their weekly press conference on Tuesday.

‘These are commonsense cuts. And I think every member of this body should support it. It’s a critical step in restoring fiscal sanity and beginning to turn the tides and removing fraud, waste, and abuse from our government,’ Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said.

A House Ways and Means Committee hearing took an unexpected turn Wednesday when Rep. Linda Sanchez, D.Calif., accused Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of interrupting her because of her gender—prompting audible groans from the room.

The exchange occurred during a tense five-minute questioning session, where Sanchez challenged Bessent on the impact of tariffs enacted under President Trump’s administration.

‘Prices are rising on many everyday goods,’ Sanchez said, citing increases in clothing, shoes, canned food, toys, and household tools. She added, ‘On average, Trump’s tariffs are estimated to cost households $3,000 more for the same goods than they would have last year,’ though she did not cite the source of the figure when pressed.

When Bessent attempted to interject, Sanchez quickly cut him off: ‘Please don’t interrupt me… I know I’m a woman, but please try to limit yourself to answering my questions.’

That remark prompted groans from the hearing room, with one attendee audibly reacting, ‘Oh, come on.’ Sanchez responded: ‘No, I’m sorry, but we get talked over all the time, and I don’t want that to happen at this hearing.’

Bessent, who is openly gay, did not address the accusation and instead focused on defending the administration’s trade policies. 

When Sanchez challenged him on pricing impacts and China’s trade behavior, Bessent responded, ‘That’s incorrect,’ and said, ‘They met their agreements under President Trump in 2020, and President Biden did not enforce them.’

Sanchez repeatedly claimed that American consumers are paying more due to tariffs and described recent negotiations with China as rushed and lacking transparency. ‘A poorly negotiated trade deal with China is probably not worth the paper that it is written on,’ she said. ‘I was alarmed to hear this morning that Trump said the U.S.–China deal was done after just two days of talks in London.’

Bessent defended the agreement as an initial step. ‘The deal struck was for a specific goal, and it will be a much longer process,’ he said, adding, ‘China has proven an unreliable partner.’

The clash between Sanchez and Bessent was repeatedly moderated by Chairman Adrian Smith (R-NE), who reminded members of time limits and decorum throughout the hearing.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – Taiwan’s coast guard and affiliated military units put on a show of strength during an ‘Ocean Day’ drill last week amid growing threats from China.

Held in southern Taiwan’s largest city, Kaohsiung, the exercise was overseen by Taiwan President William Lai, and while framed as demonstrations of search and rescue and anti-terrorism abilities, there was no escaping the larger reason why Taiwan is strengthening frontline defenses and operational readiness. 

Alongside the navy, Taiwan’s coast guard is undergoing modernization. On display during the Ocean Day exercise was one of Taiwan’s new Anping-class corvettes, stealth-capable vessels with surface-to-land missile systems, and, naturally, advanced rescue capabilities.

This all comes as Taiwan’s top weapons developer recently announced they had developed various new sea drones – including so-called ‘kamikaze’ or suicide drones. An anonymous official claimed Taiwan’s military will test the sea drones in waters off Southern Taiwan this August. 

Defense Minister Wellington Koo confirmed late last month that the navy of independently-ruled Taiwan will soon add unmanned surface vehicles, while the army is set to inaugurate its first drone units this year. Reports say Taiwan produced around 10,000 drones last year, and this year plans to buy 3,000+ more made by local companies for military use. 

In remarks following the Ocean Day exercise, Lai urged Taiwan’s lawmakers to back his administration’s latest defense spending proposals and told the group of select guests that included the highest-ranking American official based in Southern Taiwan, Neil Gibson, that the matter was about more than just ships and hardware.

‘It’s about national resilience.’ 

Taiwanese government officials frequently denounce what they term as escalating ‘gray zone’ warfare from Beijing, actions such as harassing fishing vessels, illegal incursions, and, on at least one occasion, boarding a Taiwan-flagged civilian ferry. Taiwan sees these actions as Chinese attempts to create a ‘new normal’ of uncontested control of the roughly 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait that separates the two sides.

Taiwan’s coast guard is dwarfed by the growing Chinese coast guard, which is already the largest in the world in terms of the number and size of vessels. Last year, according to statistics provided to Fox News Digital by Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, Taiwan’s coast guard drove away 1,196 vessels from Taiwanese waters – 1,135 of which were from China. 

Lai said there is an urgent need for upgraded infrared surveillance to enable round-the-clock maritime monitoring, as well as other tech that could combat Chinese tactics that include illegal sand dredging, cyber disruptions and even sabotage of undersea cables, actions deliberately chosen to stay below the threshold of ‘acts of war.’

Ross Darrell Feingold, a lawyer and political risk analyst based in Taipei, told Fox News Digital that Lai’s calls for bipartisanship arise from the president’s party not currently holding a majority in Taiwan’s Parliament, which will make the passage of his proposed $13.6 billion USD ‘special budget’ much more difficult.

‘This proposed spending would go to the coast guard, the military, and be used to assist domestic industries affected by higher U.S. tariffs,’ said Feingold, who noted that the Trump administration should have no issues with selling weapons to Taiwan.

Since he took office on May 20, 2024, Lai has increased defense spending within the limits of what he can do while not holding a majority in Parliament. 

Beijing’s communist government stubbornly claims Taiwan as its territory despite never having governed it for a single day, and in recent years, removed language calling for a ‘peaceful settlement’ in official statements. One widely quoted assertion claims Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the Chinese military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, now less than two years away.