Michigan Doctor Creates Coalition To Oppose RFK, Jr. Vaccine Policies

Dr. Pamela G. Rockwell, a clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, is putting together a coalition to oppose Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s vaccine policies.  She appears to be in league with Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, who is the chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Not stated in this Free Press story, Dr. Rockwell was ousted in June by Kennedy from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the Biden-appointed group that made recommendations on the necessity and use of vaccines.  Dr. Rockwell is a committed advocate of vaccines, although I cannot find that she has performed any research or studies in this area:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2025/09/03/michigan-physician-pamela-rockwell-robert-f-kennedy-jr-covid-vaccine-policy-cdc-fda-acip/85948945007/

https://www.cdc.gov/flu-resources/php/resources/pamela-rockwell.html

Michigan physician builds coalition to counter RFK Jr.'s 'dire' vaccine restrictions
By Kristen Jordan - September 3, 2025
Detroit Free Press

*    Dr. Pamela Rockwell, a professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, is leading a coalition in Michigan to circumvent federal policy restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines.
*    Rockwell joins other health leaders in warning that the policies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, should "alarm every American."

Dr. Pamela Rockwell won't be silent anymore.

A clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, Rockwell joins a growing chorus of health experts who warn that the nation's public health is at risk under a U.S. Health and Human Services department run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"We have been duped by RFK Jr.," said Rockwell, who served seven years on an independent panel of experts called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which reviews safety data and makes vaccine recommendations to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "He has proven himself a liar about everything he said when he was confirmed."

And Rockwell is building a coalition of physicians in the state to find a way through the tumult at the federal level and ensure Michiganders can continue to get the preventive care they need to stay healthy.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., shown at a news conference in Texas, on Aug. 28, has taken action that may make COVID-19 shots harder to access for many adults and children.
Nine former CDC directors published an opinion piece Sept. 1 in the New York Times, saying the actions Kennedy has taken in his first few months as HHS secretary "should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings."

Among the most worrisome, they wrote, include the Aug. 27 firing of CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez and the resignations of several other top CDC leaders, the cancellation of medical research that would help the nation quickly respond to emerging infectious diseases, replacing long-standing experts on the ACIP with vaccine skeptics, celebrating unproven treatments rather than vaccines, and "citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements."

Monarez was fired because she "was not aligned with the president's mission to make America healthy again," said President Donald Trump's spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt.

Kennedy Jr. announced in May that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children or pregnant women. And in August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration changed the labels on the vaccines, saying they should be given only to people older than 65 and to younger people with at least one preexisting health condition that puts them at high risk for severe disease with COVID-19.

That triggered alarm bells for some medical associations, which issued contradictory recommendations, and also sowed confusion among pharmacists and other medical providers about the fall vaccine rollout and insurance coverage for COVID-19 vaccines.

It alarmed Rockwell, too.

"It is dire," she said. Americans find themselves, she said, facing "the worst possible case scenario" for public health. She fears that when the newly appointed ACIP panel meets again Sept. 18-19, the nation could see the committee further restrict access to vaccines.

Dr. Pamela Rockwell is a clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, co-chair of the University of Michigan Immunization Committee and of the Michigan Advisory Committee on Immunizations through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and also is medical director of Domino's Farms Family Medicine.
"I try to be an advocate for all my patients — whether it’s inpatient or outpatient — and explain everything to them. Nothing is without risk in life, nothing. Getting on an airplane is not without risk. But the risks that have been pushed about vaccines are just so hyperbolic compared with the benefits of vaccinating.

"The real sad and unfortunate thing is I can no longer say the CDC is a trustworthy source."

After Monarez was fired, Kennedy Jr. said: "There's a lot of trouble at CDC, and it's going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order to change the institutional culture and bring back pride and self-esteem and make that agency the stellar agency that it's always been. I'm very confident in the political staff that we have there now."

That's the problem, Rockwell said. Political staff shouldn't be making decisions that ought to be informed by scientific data at the CDC and other federal public health agencies.

"Public health is now so politicized," she said. In her time serving as a liaison to ACIP for the American Academy of Family Physicians, she saw firsthand the depth of knowledge and transparency at the agency.

But now? "A lot of misinformation is coming out through social media, but now that disinformation is coming out from the federal government, too," she said.

So, Rockwell is doing what she can now in her own circles. She ensures that she and her loved ones are up to date on preventive vaccines. When she rounds on the patients admitted to the University of Michigan Medical Center, she offers immunizations.

"I am vaccinating everybody I can at the hospital," she said. She's doing the same at her practice at Domino's Farms Family Medicine, where she is medical director.

The FDA approved updated COVID-19 vaccines by Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax in late August, but with new restrictions.
She teamed up with a physician who co-chairs the University of Michigan Immunization Committee with her and began to reach out to the heads of local and state organizations like the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians.

"We have been working to establish our own evidence-based recommendations because physicians are confused," said Rockwell, who also is the co-chair of the Michigan Advisory Committee on Immunizations for MDHHS. "Nurse practitioners, pharmacists are confused. Right now, pharmacists are hampered by the fact that they legally can’t give vaccinations if it’s not recommended. But doctors can give off-label vaccinations.

"The term 'label' just means exactly what the FDA puts on the vaccine label. So, that is my intention. We are going to continue to vaccinate with evidence-based recommendations. I will be recommending a COVID vaccine to all my patients, 6 months and older. The American Academy of Pediatrics has come out with formal guidelines to recommend all children, not just high-risk children ... get vaccinated. So, we’re citing that as a reputable source."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also published guidance saying women also should get the COVID-19 vaccine if they’re planning to become pregnant, at any point in their pregnancy, if they recently delivered a baby or if they’re breastfeeding.

"We’re following that," Rockwell said.

She met with Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, an infectious disease specialist who also is the chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Bagdasarian and MDHHS also broke with the CDC and recommended all Michiganders 6 months and older get COVID-19 vaccines.

Bagdasarian told the Detroit Free Press Aug. 29 that "the data still supports the benefit of COVID vaccines over any kind of risk, especially for pregnant women, which was one of the populations that CDC changed some of their language around.

Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian is chief medical executive at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
"We continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccines for everyone over the age of 6 months," Bagdasarian said, based on those "national bodies of scientific advisers who are best positioned to review the data, to review the science and make decisions that are solely based on science."

Rockwell says the coalition she's building with Bagdasarian and others may help Michigan's medical institutions build enough resilience to "refuse to capitulate to sham science and quackery that is being proposed" by Kennedy Jr.

"I am working very hard on this with a lot of extra meetings and I’m trying to coordinate with other big bodies of professionals so we can all join together," Rockwell said.

"It has been clunky and slow-going, but I have visions of at least getting the Midwest all together with our state chapters."

Some deep and personal losses within her own family have given Rockwell perspective and courage in this time.

"I don’t feel like I need to apologize to anybody for what I say," she said. "And I’m willing to be the outspoken doctor — whether it’s at U-M or in the state or nationally because life is precious. We shouldn’t be allowing our government to make decisions" that put precious lives at risk by restricting preventive vaccines.

"I have an unwavering faith in the power of the people, though, and I do think that the public will not like to be told what they can and cannot do. They would rather have the option to vaccinate, rather than not have the option.

"This is the beginning of a pushback," she said. "I'll do my best in my little world."