Massachusetts’ top public health official says he’ll be watching the first meeting of the newly assembled CDC vaccine advisory panel this week. Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, who was once a senior policy advisor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says he’s skeptical about their recommendations.

“I think what we’re all going to be looking for is do these new individuals, these eight folks, do they have the expertise to talk about vaccines? ... Or were they appointed because they’re going to follow the wishes and the whims of Secretary Kennedy?” Goldstein said on GBH News’ Morning Edition.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired and replaced every member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices earlier this month. The panel is scheduled to meet on June 25 and 26, and is slated to discuss multiple vaccinations, safety concerns and fall boosters.

Kennedy has expressed skepticism about vaccine safety and efficacy. He said in a Fox News interview this March that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine “causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes.”He also wrote a book about the vaccine preservative thimerosal, which he claims can cause autism. Thimerosal appears twice on the agenda for this week’s advisory panel meetings, both listed with “TBD” presenters.

“These two topics are really important topics. We do want to understand about the safety of vaccines. Is thimerosal safe in vaccines? We have a lot of evidence to support that it is safe, but we’ve also worked as a society to remove it from vaccines because of any potential risk that exists there. We should have an open discussion about the safety of vaccines. What I worry about is this won’t be an open discussion. This will be a one-sided discussion about vaccines,” said Goldstein.

“Traditionally, the information is presented by CDC experts, by people who have spent their careers learning about vaccines. ... What we fear is that these presentations may be given by outside individuals, people who do not have an understanding of the data.”

While the Trump administration will set their own guidelines, states have their decisions to make too. Goldstein said he supports measures on Beacon Hill to get more people vaccinated, including efforts to get rid of religious exemptions for routine childhood vaccine requirements in the state’s public schools.

“There are a number of bills that are in front of the Legislature right now, but I am looking to the Legislature to be a really strong partner in our effort to keep people vaccinated and to make sure that people have access to safe vaccines,” said Goldstein.