Two new vaccine advisers tapped by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have served as paid expert witnesses for plaintiffs suing Merck & Co. over some of the drug company’s inoculations targeting measles,

One of the new vaccine advisers picked by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has earned thousands of dollars as an expert witness in litigation against Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, court records show.

In an announcement on X, Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, said reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (Acip) was a "major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines". Kennedy said the new members "have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.