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Another US Doctors’ Group Breaks With Federal Policy, Recommends COVID-19 Vaccines for All Adults
The American Academy of Family Physicians said on Monday that it recommends all adults over the age of 18, children and pregnant women to receive COVID-19 vaccines, a contrast to the U.S. government’s narrowed approvals for the shots.
Its suggested immunizations for COVID-19 are in line with the pediatric physician’s group, The American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations from last month.
They contrast with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which two weeks ago approved the updated vaccines for people with health conditions and all people aged 65 and older.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said in May the U.S. no longer recommends routine COVID-19 shots for healthy kids and pregnant women, prompting medical organizations and several states to formulate their own vaccine recommendations.
MAHA Commission Report Puts Agrochemical Industry Profits Over Children’s Health
Friends of the Earth reported:
Today, the Trump Administration’s Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission officially released its “Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy.” Despite the Commission’s initial call to “act decisively” to “begin reversing the childhood chronic disease crisis,” the final published strategy does nothing to counteract the Trump Administration’s erosion of the very federal agencies, programs, and funding that support children’s health.
In response, Kari Hamerschlag, Deputy Director of the Food and Agriculture Program at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: It’s deeply disappointing that Trump’s MAHA Commission report has the agrochemical industry’s fingerprints all over it. This report is not a roadmap for improving children’s health — it’s a green light for increased agribusiness profits at the expense of our communities, environment, and children’s well-being.
While there are some positive but tepid recommendations on whole foods, organics, conservation and regenerative agriculture, these ring hollow given the Administration’s massive cuts to healthy school meals, local food infrastructure, and conservation programs. Perhaps most galling is the report’s promotion of “shovel-ready conservation projects already planned on farms” after the Trump Administration cancelled billions of dollars’ worth of conservation projects already underway on farms across America.
Minnesota, New York Issue Executive Orders Promoting Access to COVID Vaccines
Governors in Minnesota and New York are issuing executive orders in an effort to protect vaccine access in those states, in the wake of chaos and confusion over the availability of COVID-19 vaccine boosters at the federal level.
In Minnesota, the executive order from Governor Tim Walz directs the state epidemiologist to issue a standing order for the COVID-19 vaccine, which offers flexibility for healthcare providers and pharmacists to provide the vaccine.
This process does not rely on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations.
“Unlike many other states, pharmacists in Minnesota can administer influenza and COVID-19 vaccines according to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] license to patients three and up without a separate prescription. This process does not rely on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations,” according to a press release on the order.
Florida’s Surgeon General Said He Didn’t Calculate the Costs of Ending Vaccine Mandates in the State. But Scientists Have.
Florida’s surgeon general said Sunday that he had not weighed the cost — in terms of infections, hospitalizations or deaths — of ending vaccine mandates in the state. But scientists who have done those calculations say those costs may be high.
“Absolutely not,” Dr. Joseph Ladapo told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked whether he had done any data analysis or projections of how many new cases of vaccine-preventable disease there would be if the mandates were lifted for everyone in Florida, including schoolchildren, as he proposed last week.
“Do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to be able to decide what goes into their children’s bodies? I don’t need an analysis on that,” he said.
