First vaccines, now mammograms? RFK Jr.’s latest firings have doctors outraged

Key points

• Top medical groups are outraged and alarmed that anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F.
• Kennedy Jr.
• has fired two leaders of an influential panel that makes recommendations and sets insurance coverage for preventive care—such as mammograms, colonoscopies, statin use, and depression screening.
• On Wednesday, news broke that Kennedy had fired the two vice chairs of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), leaving the critical, nonpartisan panel half empty.
• Typically, the task force is made of 16 independent volunteer preventive medicine experts who serve four-year, overlapping terms.