Professor Noel Brewer realised that Robert Kennedy Jr had fired him when he read the news.

“None of us were expecting this could happen,” said Professor Brewer, a public health physician ‘retired’ from the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) this month.

Mr Kennedy, the US Health Secretary, had used a Wall Street Journal editorial to announce he was sacking the 17 ACIP members to restore “public trust”, claiming they were compromised by pharmaceutical industry influence.

ACIP is comparable to ATAGI in Australia, except that US insurance companies must cover the cost of ACIP’s recommended vaccines or they are covered by the US Federal Government’s Vaccines for Children program.