Dr. Robert Malone — a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel “that develops recommendations on the use of vaccines in the civilian population of the United States” — suggested on a podcast that the committee would consider restricting mRNA COVID vaccines.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed Malone to the ACIP after dismissing the panel and replacing members in June 2025. As reported by The Associated Press, Malone is a “former mRNA researcher” who “runs a wellness institute and a popular blog” and “rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he’s promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19.” 

On January 21, while appearing on MAHA Media Hub, MAHA Action's regular online stream, Malone criticized vaccine mandates and said he was “not deaf to the calls that we need to get the COVID vaccine mRNA products off the market.” (Right-wing and MAHA media figures have criticized and spread misinformation about mRNA vaccines for years.) In response to those calls, Malone advised viewers to “stay tuned and wait for the upcoming ACIP meeting,” saying, “If the FDA won’t act, there are other entities that will.”