The demonstration came a day after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gutted a federal vaccine safety panel and vowed to replace all the members.

There was a notable absence last week when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a 58-second video that the government would no longer endorse the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women.

"We're turning back the clock in a very dangerous way," said Paul Allwood, whose team at the CDC was eliminated in April.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly claimed in public statements that most vaccines recommended for children in the US have not been tested against placebos, and particularly inert placebos such as saline solution or water.

Confusion over shifting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are reigniting questions in the public health community over who's running the agency. The answer: no single person.