Press Releases

Today, Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01) Kim Schrier, MD (WA-08), Brad Schneider (IL-10), and Kelly Morrison, MD (MN-03) led 44 of their colleagues calling for the removal of two recently appointed anti-vax OB/GYNs to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In January, Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed OB/GYNs Dr. Adam Urato and Dr. Kimberly Biss to ACIP, both of whom are well-documented anti-vaxers.

“What was once a trusted panel of vaccine experts has become a hand-selected group of unqualified vaccine skeptics who have undermined years of scientific integrity and vetted public health practices,” the lawmakers wrote to Kennedy.

Urato has said that vaccine science is not “long-settled.” In 2023, he posted a link to a study that looked at vaccines and breastfeeding, saying, “we don’t know the risks this poses.” Studies show that breastfeeding after COVID-19 vaccines is safe.

Dr. Biss said that after COVID-19 she was now “anti-vaccine.” At a congressional hearing in November 2023, Dr. Biss repeated the false claim that taking the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy increased the risk of miscarriage.

“We are deeply concerned that the addition of Dr. Urato and Dr. Biss to ACIP do not make pregnant women and their children healthier. Instead, their false, harmful ideologies put women and their children’s lives at risk. The opinions of Dr. Urato and Dr. Biss are not founded in evidence-based science, but in anti-vaccine rhetoric that harms public health as a whole,” the letter continues.

The medical community broadly rejects the connection between COVID-19 and miscarriages. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that all pregnant and breastfeeding women receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine or booster. The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) also strongly recommends that pregnant women receive the vaccine.

In June 2025, Sec. Kennedy fired all 17 sitting ACIP members, which has put all Americans at risk from vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles, COVID-19, and even polio.

“We urge you to remove vaccine skeptics from ACIP and reinstate the 17 experts who were previously fired,” the lawmakers conclude.

The letter is joined by Representatives Becca Balint (VT‑AL), Nanette Díaz Barragán (CA‑44), Sean Casten (IL‑06), Emanuel Cleaver (MO‑05), Steve Cohen (TN‑09), Herbert Conaway (NJ‑03), Angie Craig (MN‑02), April McClain Delaney (MD‑06), Maxine Dexter (OR‑03), Debbie Dingell (MI‑06), Lizzie Fletcher (TX‑07), John Garamendi (CA‑08), Robert Garcia (CA‑42), Jimmy Gomez (CA‑34), Pramila Jayapal (WA‑07), Julie Johnson (TX-32), Robin Kelly (IL-2), Rick Larsen (WA‑02), Summer Lee (PA-12), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Lucy McBath (GA-06), Jennifer McClellan (VA‑04), Seth Moulton (MA‑06), Donald Norcross (NJ‑01), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC‑AL), Jimmy Panetta (CA‑19), Brittany Pettersen (CO‑07), Emily Randall (WA-06), Luz Rivas (CA‑29), Deborah Ross (NC-02, Jan Schakowsky (IL‑09), Terri Sewell (AL‑07), Brad Sherman (CA‑32), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Greg Stanton (AZ‑04), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Mark Takano (CA-39), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Paul Tonko (NY-20), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25). 

You can read the full letter here.