By Chad Terhune and Dan Levine
(Reuters) -One of the new vaccine advisers picked by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has earned thousands of dollars as an expert witness in litigation against Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, court records show.
Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who publicly criticized COVID-era lockdowns, is one of eight new members named by Kennedy on Wednesday to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a highly influential panel that recommends which shots should be administered to the American public.
Kennedy fired the entire previous 17-member committee of expert vaccine advisers this week, claiming they were “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest” from financial ties to drugmakers. The departing experts say their work was subjected to rigorous vetting and rules for recusal for any conflict.
Kulldorff recently served as an expert witness for plaintiffs who accused Merck of concealing the risks of Gardasil, a vaccine for the prevention of 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.
At a deposition in October, Kulldorff testified that the plaintiffs paid him $400 an hour and he had already billed for about $33,000 in legal work on the case through late September. He said he also received a $4,000 retainer in the North Carolina case, according to court documents.
Kulldorff is also listed as an expert witness in a similar case pending against Merck in Los Angeles state court, records show.
Under ACIP’s rules, committee members cannot serve as a “paid litigation consultant or expert witness in litigation involving a vaccine manufacturer” during their tenure on the panel.
Prior work as an expert witness against drugmakers may require a waiver from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and recusal from votes involving Merck and HPV vaccines. The agency has said in its rules it “will generally consider issuance of waivers in specific situations.”
Kulldorff and plaintiffs lawyers in the Merck case did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Merck declined to comment.
A spokesman for Kennedy’s Health and Human Services Department said on Wednesday that “all newly appointed ACIP members were thoroughly vetted.” HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kulldorff.
KENNEDY AND GARDASIL
Before joining the Trump administration, Kennedy was a longtime plaintiffs’ lawyer and played an instrumental role in organizing mass litigation against Merck over its Gardasil vaccine, which brought in sales of $8.58 billion in 2024.
The shot is recommended as a routine immunization for 11 and 12-year-olds by the CDC to prevent cervical and certain head and neck cancers caused by the virus.
Kennedy’s work on the Gardasil case drew attention from Congress during the confirmation process for health secretary. Kennedy said he would divest his financial interest in that litigation to his non-dependent, adult son.
In a post on X, Kennedy praised Kulldorff as a “leading expert in vaccine safety and infectious disease surveillance.” He also cited his previous service as a government adviser, including on a vaccine safety subgroup assisting the full ACIP board.
Kulldorff gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, which called on public health officials to roll back lockdowns, arguing they were causing irreparable harm. One of his co-authors was Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who now serves under Kennedy as National Institutes of Health director.
Kulldorff wrote a 29-page report on Gardasil that was filed on January 6 in the North Carolina case. His conclusion was that Merck had “not done an appropriate job evaluating potential safety problems” related to the shot. He also highlighted his prior service on ACIP’s vaccine safety working groups.
Gardasil was approved in the U.S. in 2006 after going through clinical trials to prove its safety and efficacy.
“I have served on two CDC ACIP vaccine safety working groups, concerning the measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) and COVID vaccines,” Kulldorff wrote.
He also wrote in his litigation report that he developed some of the methods that are used “by FDA and CDC in their routine post-market vaccine safety surveillance work.”
(Reporting by Chad Terhune in Los Angeles and Dan Levine in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Mike Spector in New York; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Berkrot)
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