A senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has resigned, warning that changes in leadership may weaken the country's vaccine program.

Seventeen vaccine experts who were dismissed from a federal advisory panel last week say they are worried that recent moves by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will destabilize vaccine policy in the US and jeopardize access to lifesaving immunizations.

The 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, who were ousted last week, argued their abrupt dismissal has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened."