of Saturday’s parade, the final day of

“Make no mistake: Politicizing the ACIP as Secretary Kennedy is doing will undermine public trust under the guise of improving it,” he said in a statement. “We’ll look back at this as a grave mistake that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor, undermined public trust, and opened the door for fringe theories rather than facts.”Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, called Kennedy’s mass ouster “a coup.”

“It’s not how democracies work. It’s not good for the health of the nation,” Benjamin told The Associated Press.Benjamin said the move raises real concerns about whether future committee members will be viewed as impartial. He added that Kennedy is going against what he told lawmakers and the public, and the public health association plans to watch Kennedy “like a hawk.”“He is breaking a promise,” Benjamin said. “He said he wasn’t going to do this.”

Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, called the committee a trusted source of science- and data-driven advice and said Kennedy’s move, coupled with declining vaccination rates across the country, will help drive an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases.“Today’s action to remove the 17 sitting members of ACIP undermines that trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives,” Scott said in a statement.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor who had expressed reservations about Kennedy’s nomination but voted to install him as the nation’s health secretary nonetheless, said he had spoken with Kennedy moments after the announcement.

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said in a social media post. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”Bakeni said it was difficult to determine if the priest was specifically targeted, given the number of travelers caught in the ambush. Other travelers were also abducted, he said, although it was unclear how many.

Nigerian authorities haven’t publicly commented on the abductions and didn’t respond to requests for comment.Rev. Robert Fath, the vicar general of the diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, told the Anchorage Daily News on Thursday that he had received a phone call from Boko Haram confirming they had Afina.

Afina served in Alaska from 2017 to 2024 before returning to Nigeria, where he works with the Justice, Development and Peace Commission, a Catholic social justice group.Nigerian authorities are struggling to stem rising violence in the north and central regions where armed groups, including Boko Haram, target rural communities, killing thousands and abducting people to ransom.