A doctor who has appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast has been appointed to America’s top vaccine panel despite his controversial views.

Dr Robert Malone, a former University of Maryland physician who has promoted the conspiracy theory that Covid vaccines have killed millions of people, has been appointed to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Malone, who appeared on Rogan’s podcast back in 2021, is among eight physicians and individuals appointed to ACIP, whose job will be to make recommendations on vaccination schedules.

Malone has also likened Covid vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany and claimed that at least half-a-million lives could have been saved if people had used the widely debunked ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine treatments.

Robert F Kennedy Junior has filled the vaccine panel with people he claimed were ‘highly credentialed scientists’ and ‘leading public health experts’. The appointment came days after RFK Jr fired the group’s 17 established members.

But at least four of the new appointees have links to anti-vaccine groups or have previously made comments disparaging Covid vaccine mandates or the vaccines.

Also among them is Retsef Levi, an MIT operations manager with no medical degree, who has called for the mRNA Covid shots to be pulled from the market over the side effect myocarditis, or heart inflammation, saying they are causing serious harm and deaths in young people.

Vicky Pebsworth, a board member of the oldest anti-vaccine group in the US the National Vaccine Information Center, has also been added to the panel. 

Robert Malone is pictured above on the Joe Rogan podcast in December 2021, where he likened Covid vaccine uptake to Nazi Germany

Robert Malone is pictured above on the Joe Rogan podcast in December 2021, where he likened Covid vaccine uptake to Nazi Germany 

Experts have slammed the appointments, raising concerns over their links to vaccine skepticism and saying the Trump administration has lost the trust of the medical community.

Dr Noel Brewer, one of the scientists fired from the former ACIP committee, told NBC News: ‘The new panel is missing all of the expertise that has come before them.

‘They don’t know how to go about looking at the evidence, how to think about the volumes of data that will be coming their way.’

Among the most controversial new appointees is Malone, who – while on the Joe Rogan podcast – declared that vaccine uptake required the same kind of mass obedience as Nazi Germany, calling it ‘mass formation psychosis’.

Malone has also previously expressed doubt about measles vaccination, claiming two girls who died from measles in Texas died due to medical error rather than their infection.

Malone is a major player in the anti-vaccine movement, and claims that his research was used to help create the mRNA vaccines. 

He did carry out studies in 1989 demonstrating how mRNA could be delivered into cells using lipids, or microscopic bubbles of fats, but experts say his involvement in pioneering the tech has been greatly exaggerated. 

Another controversial pick is Levi, who said in January 2023 in comments pinned to his X profile: ‘I think there is no other ethical or scientific choice but to pull out of the market these medical products and stop all mRNA vaccination programs.

Pictured above are the eight individuals that have been appointed to the new ACIP committee. From top left to bottom right: Robert Malone, Dr Martin Kulldorf, Dr Joseph Hibbeln, Retsef Levi, Dr Cody Meissner, Vicky Pebsworth

‘This [mRNA Covid vaccine] is clearly the most failing medical product in the history of medical products. In terms of efficacy and safety.’

Myocarditis is a rare complication of the Covid vaccine, but is more common among young men — affecting about one in 15,000. The condition is mild, and normally goes away on its own without any medical intervention.

Concerns have been raised over Pebsworth, although she did previously advise the FDA’s vaccines advisory committee as a consumer advocate.

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She is the only woman appointed to the committee, and the mother of a child who suffered serious long-term health problems after receiving seven vaccines in one doctor’s visit at the age of 15 months.

Praising his picks, RFK Junior said on X: ‘All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense. 

‘They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.’

The ACIP was set up to analyze the latest data on the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and to make recommendations on who should receive which vaccines and when they should be inoculated. It also meant to review the schedule for childhood immunizations.

The CDC, which is currently without a director, is not required to follow the advice of the committee, but often does.

Trump and RFK Jr have both promised to overhaul America's health agencies and address the 'overmedicalization' of children, including addressing vaccine schedules

Trump and RFK Jr have both promised to overhaul America’s health agencies and address the ‘overmedicalization’ of children, including addressing vaccine schedules

Also among the scientists picked to serve on the committee is Dr Martin Kulldorff, a Swedish biostatistician who was the lead author of the Great Barrington Declaration — which called for lockdowns to end for everyone except the vulnerable and elderly.

He has been generally supportive of vaccines, including the measles vaccine — writing on X in 2022 that it is ‘very effective’ and ‘does not cause autism’.

But he railed against much of the Covid-era policy during the pandemic, including Covid tests for children — saying there was little point in swapping young children, who were generally at very low risk from the virus.

Among other picks was Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who previously held positions at the NIH. His research focuses on omega-3 fatty acids and the neurocognitive development of children whose mothers consumed seafood during pregnancy.

Also on the committee is Dr Cody Meissner, a pediatrics expert at Geisel School of Medicine in Dartmouth, Dr Michael Ross, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Virginia, and Dr James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician.

The eight members appointed are the minimum number needed for the committee to meet as planned on June 25 to 27.

At this meeting, they will vote on the recommendations for vaccines against coronavirus, influenza, meningococcal, HPV and RSV for adults, pregnant women and infants.

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