Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the appointment of two new members to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). RFK Jr. added two obstetrician-gynecologists (OB-GYNs) to the vaccine advisory panel. HHS provided a bio of the two new members: “Adam Urato, M.D., Obstetrician and Gynecologist specializing in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr. Urato has held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School, the University of South Florida, and Tufts University School of Medicine. His clinical roles have included Maternal-Fetal Medicine attending positions at MetroWest Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center/St. Elizabeth’s, and Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Urato received his B.A. from Harvard College and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He has also published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and participated in FDA advisory panels. “Kimberly Biss, M.D., Obstetrician and Gynecologist in St. Petersburg, Florida. Dr. Biss has held multiple hospital leadership positions at Bayfront Health/Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, including Chief of Staff, Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Medical Executive Board Officer. She is board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and maintains membership in several professional medical associations. Dr. Biss received her M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. Her experience includes clinical education roles and publication on COVID-19 vaccine safety for pregnant women.” “Two OB-GYNs have been appointed to CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. For the first time in years, pregnancy, maternal safety, and real clinical experience are being centered in vaccine policy decisions. This is what transparency looks like,” Children’s Health Defense commented. BREAKING: Two OB-GYNs have been appointed to CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. For the first time in years, pregnancy, maternal safety, and real clinical experience are being centered in vaccine policy decisions. This is what transparency looks like. pic.twitter.com/3rHa2KaTOI — Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 13, 2026 Fox News has more: Jim O’Neill, the deputy secretary of health and human services and acting director of the CDC, said the changes are part of a broader effort to ensure vaccine policies are driven by scientific data. “President Trump asked us to bring the childhood immunization schedule in line with gold-standard science,” said O’Neill. “ACIP is doing just that. Our new ACIP members have the clinical expertise to make decisions driven by evidence, not dogma.” The panel, formally known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), advises the CDC director and the HHS secretary on vaccine use and the nation’s immunization schedule. In June, Kennedy fired all existing members of the vaccine panel, saying the move was necessary to restore public trust and reduce conflicts of interest. The committee was later reconstituted with new appointees aligned with his views on vaccine safety, transparency and scientific rigor. One of the new appointees, Urato, has previously criticized CDC COVID-19 vaccine guidance for pregnant women, arguing that safety assurances were issued before sufficient data was available. Supporters say his appointment brings needed scrutiny to federal health guidance, while critics warn it could undermine confidence in vaccines. The reconstituted panel has since revisited several longstanding recommendations, including guidance traditionally supported by mainstream public health officials. Those changes culminated earlier this year in a major revision of the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule. The agency reduced the number of recommended routine immunizations for all children. CDC Announces MAJOR Change In Recommended Childhood Vaccine Schedule “ACIP serves as Americans’ watchdog for vaccine safety and transparency,” RFK Jr. said. “Dr. Urato and Dr. Biss bring the scientific credentials, clinical experience, and integrity this committee requires," he added. Exclusive: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expanded a key federal vaccine advisory panel to include more critics of vaccines who have contradicted mainstream medical guidance, including one who has described herself as an “anti-vaxxer.” https://t.co/vhX42AQaJM — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 13, 2026 NBC News shared further: Biss has been a vocal skeptic of Covid vaccines. In 2023, she told the GOP-led House subcommittee on Covid vaccines that some patients in her practice had faced irregularities with their menstrual cycles after receiving the shots that were so severe she’d had to perform surgeries and hysterectomies. Biss also testified that the miscarriage rate at her practice went up each year from 2020 to 2022 and suggested the vaccines might have been responsible for some women entering early menopause. Pediatrician and former ACIP member Paul Offit blasted Biss’ testimony in a post on Substack at the time, pushing back on her claims about Covid vaccine safety risks and her suggestion that breastfeeding was unsafe for women who have been vaccinated. “Perhaps most outrageous was Biss’s stance on vaccinating children,” Offit wrote, referring to her claim that the death rate among children was low enough that vaccines weren’t needed. Biss falsely claimed that only 3 in 1 million children die from Covid, when the actual rate at the time was 10 in 1 million. Covid shots have also been demonstrated to reduce the severity of illness and lower the risk of hospitalization. During a panel discussion last October on PBS’s Kentucky Educational Television, Biss advocated against what she characterized as an “instant rejection” of alternative medical ideas, like the questioning of vaccine safety and the Trump administration’s advice that pregnant women avoid taking Tylenol because of potential links to autism. (The bulk of scientific evidence suggests moderate Tylenol use is safe in pregnancy and does not show a link to autism.) “I just think we need to be able to question these things and not be called a quack,” she said at the time. Urato, meanwhile, has also questioned the safety of vaccines administered during pregnancy — including for flu, RSV and Covid — as well as the use of antidepressants among pregnant women. He has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to add a warning to a class of antidepressants known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, stating that they cause pregnancy complications and alter fetal brain development.