The appointment of vaccine skeptics to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s primary vaccine safety board could have a paradoxical effect and make patients across the country more willing to trust public health recommendations and get vaccinated.

The Health and Human Services Department head ousted all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices just days ago. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who heads the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),

Of the eight named by Kennedy, perhaps the most experienced in vaccine policy is Meissner, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, who has previously served as a member of both ACIP and the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel.