If Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to “clean up the corruption and conflicts” at HHS, he is going about it the wrong way.
I study conflicts of interest at federal agencies. While industry influence is a widely shared concern, Kennedy’s dismissal of all the members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee, and the rapid hiring of eight replacements, could easily misfire.
The purpose of an advisory committee is to have external experts offer independent advice to the government on technical and scientific issues. These experts are typically faculty or researchers at universities and scientific institutes. A wholesale purge may remove members with industry ties, but it is not a costless get-out-of-jail card. Studies show that committee members with industry relationships tend to publish more and higher-impact articles, suggesting they can bring more expertise to the table. And in therapeutic areas where there are few researchers, such as rare diseases, it takes much more time and effort to find qualified people without financial conflicts. This results in delays in government decisions and ultimately patient access.
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