Below is an excerpt from my article published in Quillette, which can be found in its entirety here. Note that if you encounter a paywall, a free signup will unlock access -- a paid subscription is not necessary.
With the federal government now back open after the recent shutdown, one critical vehicle for formulating public health policy is immediately plunging back into chaos. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—the expert body at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that for decades has, inter alia, guided the nation's vaccination schedule—has been radically remade by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And now, Kennedy's ACIP, repopulated with cranks and misfits, is racing ahead with dismantling the nation's hugely successful childhood vaccine schedule.