The appointment of vaccine skeptics to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s primary vaccine safety board could have a paradoxical effect and make patients across the country more willing to trust public health recommendations and get vaccinated.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to include two well-known vaccine skeptics among eight appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices could enhance the credibility of the board’s vaccine recommendations among people who do not trust the public health establishment.