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US Health Secretary Kennedy fires heads of key preventive health panel

By Reuters Reuters
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discusses the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, during a press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discusses the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, during a press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo Elizabeth Frantz Reuters

NEW YORK - US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this month fired the chair and vice chair of the influential task force that decides which preventive medical care is ​provided at no cost to patients.

The ​Preventive Services Task Force, which typically ⁠has 16 members, last met over ​a year ago after Kennedy canceled its regularly scheduled meetings. New members have not been named to replace the five volunteers whose terms expired ​in December.

Panel chair Dr. John Wong, professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and vice chair Dr. Esa Davis, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, were removed from the panel earlier this month, according to correspondence seen by Reuters.

(Reporting by Deena Beasley; editing by Caroline Humer and Franklin Paul)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 12:53 PM.

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