U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s newly reconstituted vaccine advisory panel said during its first meeting on Wednesday that it would study the schedule of childhood and adolescent immunizations and review the use of older vaccines.

The newly formed vaccine advisory committee handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that it would examine the cumulative effect of the childhood vaccine schedule and reevaluate hepatitis B immunization recommendations — moves that could shift long-standing practices of how and when children are immunized in the United States.

The preservative thimerosal has been removed from all but a few vaccines, and studies have confirmed no link to neurodevelopmental issues including autism. So public health experts were puzzled when it appeared on the agenda for this week’s meeting of outside vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.