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,

Kulldorff recently served as an expert witness for plaintiffs who accused Merck of concealing the risks of Gardasil, which is intended to prevent cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). In March, a federal judge in North Carolina ruled in favor of Merck in one of those cases that included about 200 lawsuits.

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.