CDC's 5 New ACIP Appointees | Gates Money, Anti-Vaccine Positions, and Political Connections - Oh My!
Gates Money, Anti-Vaccine Positions, and Political Connections | What We Found When We Investigated Kennedy's Five New ACIP CDC Picks
What We Found When IoJ Investigated Kennedy's Five New ACIP Picks
Yesterdays September 15, 2025 appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices represent far more than routine personnel changes. These selections, occurring precisely 97 days after Kennedy's unprecedented firing of all 17 existing members, constitute a systematic dismantling of the regulatory architecture that has governed American vaccine policy for six decades.
Our investigation into Kennedy's five new appointees reveals something we didn't expect to find! The same financial networks that created the original regulatory capture may now be funding its supposed "reform."
We investigate EVERYTHING, but what we discovered challenges fundamental assumptions about institutional independence and raises some rather uncomfortable questions about whether we're witnessing genuine accountability or the most sophisticated controlled opposition operation in modern medical history.
Medical freedom advocates celebrated Kennedy's June housecleaning of ACIP, viewing it as long-overdue accountability for documented conflicts of interest. A 2009 HHS inspector-general report found that 97% of ACIP members had incomplete conflict-of-interest forms. A 2000 House investigation revealed enforcement of conflict rules was "weak to nonexistent." The systematic nature of these failures wasn't bureaucratic incompetence—it was institutional design.
But our forensic analysis of the replacement appointments exposes concerning financial and institutional relationships that demand scrutiny. Three of Kennedy's five appointees maintain affiliations with organizations that create potential conflicts of interest. Two others present mixed profiles that warrant careful monitoring. Most significantly, we identified funding patterns that suggest the same philanthropic networks are influencing both sides of vaccine policy debates.
Dr. Catherine Stein: The Gates Foundation Paradox
The most revealing appointment is Dr. Catherine Stein, a Case Western Reserve University epidemiologist whose funding sources create a textbook case of conflicted loyalties. According to university records and the Ohio Capital Journal, Stein is "currently conducting research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Health, and the Gates Foundation."
At the same time, Stein has been collaborating extensively with Health Freedom Ohio, an anti-vaccine organization explicitly affiliated with Kennedy's Children's Health Defense. She testified before state lawmakers opposing public health measures, argued that masks don't work, and claimed COVID-19 case counts were inflated.
This creates a remarkable paradox, the same researcher receiving Gates Foundation funding for academic work while simultaneously providing legitimacy to organizations that oppose Gates Foundation-funded vaccine policies. This dual positioning either represents an extraordinary coincidence or exemplifies how sophisticated funding networks can deploy assets on both sides of policy debates to control outcomes regardless of which faction appears to "win."
The Gates Foundation's extensive university funding creates exactly these complex networks where researchers can be activated on either side of vaccine debates as circumstances require. Stein's positioning provides academic credibility to health freedom organizations while maintaining her institutional standing within the Gates-funded public health establishment.
Dr. Kirk Milhoan: Medical Credentials and Research Focus
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist from Hawaii, brings legitimate medical credentials and has paid professional costs for challenging COVID vaccine policies. His peer-reviewed study documented a 620% increase in myocarditis reports among young men following COVID-19 vaccination—exactly the kind of research mainstream medicine has systematically suppressed.
Hawaii medical board investigators targeted Milhoan for allegedly spreading "misinformation" about hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, treatments that were systematically suppressed despite later proving effective for many patients.
Milhoan serves as a Senior Fellow at the Independent Medical Alliance, an organization that promotes alternatives to conventional medicine and describes itself as being "100% donor-supported." His appointment appears to represent Kennedy's effort to include medical professionals who have been willing to challenge mainstream vaccine orthodoxy despite professional consequences.
Dr. Hillary Blackburn: Industry Dependencies and Political Connections
Dr. Hillary Blackburn's appointment is also questionable due to the rules of not letting Pharma ties in. As Director of Medication Access at Ascension Healthcare, Blackburn manages the Dispensary of Hope program, which "collects and distributes millions of dollars of donated pharmaceuticals." In fiscal year 2022 alone, they "distributed more than 1,017,732 prescriptions."
Blackburn's professional responsibilities literally involve managing relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers who donate medications through her program. She told an interviewer in 2020 that "every year we add more pharmaceutical manufacturer donors and pharmacy and clinic dispensing sites."
If Kennedy fired previous ACIP members for having relationships with pharmaceutical companies (and rightfully so), appointing someone whose career success depends on maintaining positive relationships with those same companies seems like a fundamental contradiction. Pharma ties are pharma ties regardless of intent to do good to distribute “helpful” pharmies. Just saying.
Additionally, multiple sources report that Blackburn is the daughter-in-law of Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee who IoJ loves that has been vocal on health policy issues. Not sure if it’s true or even related.
Dr. Raymond Pollak: Genuine Integrity
(Photo Unknown At The Moment)
Dr. Raymond Pollak, a semi-retired transplant surgeon, presents the most encouraging profile among Kennedy's appointments. NPR reported that Pollak was a whistleblower in a case settled by the University of Illinois at Chicago after he reported that its hospital was diagnosing patients as sicker than they were to boost transplant numbers.
According to a 2003 investigation, Pollak filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 1999 exposing fraud at three Chicago hospitals. He paid significant professional costs for this integrity—demotion, loss of his chief position, and salary cuts.
This background suggests someone willing to risk career advancement for patient safety and medical ethics.
Dr. Evelyn Griffin: The Cleanest Profile
Dr. Evelyn Griffin, an ob/gyn from Baton Rouge, seems pretty legit. She maintains board certification with 15 years of experience and appears focused on standard medical practice. We could not identify concerning conflicts or controversial positions related to vaccines or public health policy.
The Controlled Opposition Question
Is Gates Foundation Funding Kennedy's Vaccine 'Reform' From Both Sides? Asking for a friend…
Our investigation reveals that two of the five appointees appear to have what looks like sophisticated controlled opposition rather than genuine institutional reform. The appointment of researchers like Stein, who simultaneously receive Gates Foundation funding while lending credibility to anti-vaccine organizations, suggests a system where the same financial networks control both sides of policy debates.
This creates a false choice between different forms of regulatory capture rather than genuine independence. Whether Kennedy's appointments represent authentic reform or more sophisticated manipulation depends on whether they prioritize scientific evidence over ideological alignment from any direction.
FDA Commissioner Makary’s Bombshell at CDC this 18 & 19 Is Coming Fast
This Thursday and Friday, the reconstituted ACIP will hold its first major meeting since these appointments. But this won't be just another routine vaccine meeting. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is scheduled to present evidence linking COVID vaccines to the deaths of 25 American children - findings his agency has been investigating for weeks after our June 20th Citizens Petition demanded action.
It is a tough job we are doing and there is no way we can win against Big Pharma without your generous support keeping IoJ in the fight. We are small but MIGHTY with YOUR SUPPORT! Thank you Angels who care enough to have our back in this fight!
We'll be monitoring whether these new appointees deliver evidence-based decisions or simply rubber-stamp predetermined outcomes.
We're keeping our eye on these appointments because our healthcare system requires honorable people at the helm making decisions that affect millions of Americans, and frankly billions of global citizens that rely on USA to get it right. When it comes to medical recommendations that could impact your family's health - especially when 25 children have already died according to the FDA's own investigation - there's no room for conflicts of interest or hidden agendas, regardless of which side they come from.
We will keep a watch out and let you all know what happens next and if we find more dirt
It is a tough job we are doing and there is no way we can win against Big Pharma without your generous support keeping IoJ in the fight. We are small but MIGHTY with YOUR SUPPORT! Thank you Angels who care enough to have our back in this fight!
Crazy! How! How, or WHY would anyone EVER trust vaccines — ever. Again?!?!
Whaaatttt only 15 yrs of Ob/Gyn experience 🤬