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Big Shakeups to the Childhood Vaccination Schedule Could Be Nearing
Public health experts are bracing for what could be fundamental changes to childhood vaccine policies that don’t align with scientific consensus, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) undergoes a major leadership shakeup.
Last week, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted CDC director Susan Monarez after she refused his demand to approve all recommendations made by the agency’s vaccine advisory committee, whose members were handpicked by him. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic, has since named one of his allies, former biotech investor Jim O’Neill, as acting director.
Four other senior CDC leaders also resigned, including the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
RFK Jr. Touts Measles Response in Defense of CDC Overhaul
The largest single measles outbreak the country has endured in more than 30 years is being hailed as a success story by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion article published Tuesday defending his overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kennedy said the administration’s response to the outbreak that began in West Texas is a testament to what a “focused CDC can achieve.”
“The outbreak ended quickly, proving the CDC can act swiftly with precision when guided by science and freed from ideology,” Kennedy wrote, adding the response was “effective” because it wasn’t “distracted” by politically correct language or “equity outcomes.”
F.D.A. Official Overruled Scientists on Wide Access to Covid Shots
Memos released in recent days by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show that the agency’s vaccine chief overruled staff scientists who favored widespread access to COVID-19 shots, setting off a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers, state officials and doctors.
Agency staff members had concluded that the FDA should allow a wide range of age groups to receive the vaccines, citing high hospitalization rates among young children with COVID-19 and saying that the virus’s evolution is “complex and remains unpredictable.” But Dr. Vinay Prasad, the agency official in charge of vaccines and gene therapies at the FDA, disagreed, overriding those scientists and deciding to issue very narrow eligibility limits.
The FDA last week said that no one under 65 was eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna or Pfizer unless they had underlying medical conditions that put them at risk for severe disease. The agency’s policy was the most restrictive to date for public access to the shots, intensifying opposition to the Trump administration’s retreat from longstanding vaccine standards and accepted childhood immunization schedules.
Key GOP Senator Declines to Elaborate on Planned ‘Oversight’ of RFK Jr. After CDC Exodus
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the health committee, is holding his cards close to the vest, declining to elaborate after he said he will conduct “oversight” of the country’s top health official and a recent shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cassidy, a doctor who has been supportive of vaccines, is in a delicate position as the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee who provided a pivotal vote to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he secured assurances about vaccines. Cassidy is also running for re-election next year.
Cassidy declined Tuesday to say whether he regrets his vote for Kennedy or whether he has confidence in him after Kennedy triggered CDC Director Susan Monarez’s removal, leading to a spate of resignations by top CDC employees who accused Kennedy of undermining an influential vaccine committee.
Snubbing Kennedy, States Announce Plans to Coordinate on Vaccines
California, Oregon and Washington announced plans on Wednesday to form a “health alliance” that would coordinate vaccine recommendations for the three states at a time of unparalleled turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal agency responsible for issuing vaccine guidance for the country.
The alliance is intended to provide residents with scientific data about vaccine safety and efficacy, and to issue guidance on vaccines for respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 and the flu, as well as an array of childhood immunizations. In a joint statement, governors of the three states said that the CDC had become “a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences.” The agency has lost thousands of employees since January, most recently its director.
The governors said the new alliance would protect against what they called the “politicization of science” by helping families, medical providers and vaccine manufacturers plan for the future using “consistent, science-based recommendations they can rely on — regardless of shifting federal actions.”
More Than 1,000 HHS Staff Call on RFK Jr. To Resign
More than 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services are demanding Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign, following his ousting of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other actions they say are “compromising the health of the nation.”
“Should he decline to resign, we call upon the President and U.S. Congress to appoint a new Secretary of Health and Human Services, one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science.
“We expect those in leadership to act when the health of Americans is at stake,” states a letter by the group of former and current employees, sent to Kennedy and members of Congress on Wednesday.
