Pediatrician Paul Offit Calls CDC Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a 'Clown Show'

The Centers for Disease Control is a total "clown show," and people need to trust the advice of their local doctors instead ... so says a respected pediatrician.

Dr. Paul Offit joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday to talk after the Centers for Disease Control vaccine advisory committee voted to remove the recommendation that all newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine.

Offit says he is outraged by the CDC's vote ... claiming more infants and toddlers will suffer from the disease because of the new, uninformed recommendation.

The doctor says the mistake the health bureaucrats are making is assuming kids only get HBV from their mothers who have the disease while pregnant -- those kids will definitely still get the vaccine, FYI.

Dr. Offit says you can get hepatitis B from people other than a mother ... which is why the vaccine is essential for kids, 'cause if they get the disease in the first year of life, Dr. Offit says they have a 90% chance to get cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. Kids aged 1-5 have a 25% chance of developing those conditions if infected with hepatitis B.

He calls it difficult to watch "this clown show, this parody of a public health agency act the way that they do." He adds he and his colleagues are standing back, horrified at the changes being made.

Offit says there's still hope that people will take the vaccine even if the CDC's no longer recommending it universally ... telling us he thinks people will listen to their trusted doctors whom they talk to all the time -- not Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or other health officials they've never met.

Worth noting ... Republican Senator Bill Cassidy -- who worked as a liver specialist in Louisiana for many years -- has already bashed the change. He's urging acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill not to sign it.