U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in an op-ed announcing the firing of all members of a federal advisory panel on vaccines, said he had gutted the group to restore the public trust. “Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics,” he declared.

Meissner was previously listed in April as a consultant to the RSV vaccines work group for the CDC committee, before Kennedy fired its advisers.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed eight new members to the federal vaccine advisory panel after abruptly disbanding the previous 17-member group earlier this week.