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Despite Federal Shift, State Health Officials Encourage COVID Vaccines for Pregnant Women
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported:
Heading into the respiratory illness season, states and clinicians are working to encourage pregnant patients to get COVID-19 vaccinations, even though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) no longer recommends that they should.
Along with being older and having an underlying health condition, pregnancy itself is a risk factor. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to developing severe illness from COVID-19. They’re also at high risk for complications, including preterm labor and stillbirth. The vast majority of medical experts say getting the shot is safe and effective — much safer than having the illness.
But HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in May that the agency would no longer recommend that pregnant women get the vaccine. Before testifying before Congress in June, Kennedy circulated a document on Capitol Hill claiming higher rates of fetal loss after vaccination. But the authors of those studies told Politico that their work had been misinterpreted.
Draft ‘MAHA’ Commission Report Avoids Pesticide Crackdown Feared by Farm Groups
The White House will not impose new guardrails on the farm industry’s use of pesticides as part of a strategy to address children’s health outcomes, according to a draft obtained by Reuters of a widely anticipated report from President Donald Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) commission.
The draft document recommends that the administration promote healthier diets and examine vaccines and prescription drugs but stops short of advising any change to how the U.S. approves or regulates agrochemicals. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, whose head, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chairs the commission, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has worked to balance the demands of the MAHA movement aligned with Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic and former environmental lawyer, with the concerns of farmers and ranchers, a key Trump constituency. A previous report from the MAHA commission issued in May pointed to pesticides, along with processed food and over-prescription of medications and vaccines, for increasing rates of childhood obesity, diabetes and other illnesses.
RFK Jr Will Not Target Ultra-Processed Foods or Pesticides in Latest MAHA Efforts, Report Says
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. will not target ultra-processed foods or pesticides as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, according to the draft of a new government report. The document, first seen by The New York Times and dated Aug. 6, is described as “pre-decisional” and addresses ultra-processed foods only in calling on the departments of HHS and Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to agree on a government-wide definition for the term.
It does not outline any plans to restrict their sale, despite low-nutrition junk foods accounting for 62% of the calories consumed by American children, according to the Times. The draft reportedly also calls for “more targeted and precise pesticide applications” and for research programs examining decreasing pesticide volumes but again stops short of restricting their use.
That would appear to represent a win for Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, who said earlier this month: “There is no chance that our current system of agriculture can survive without those crop protection tools.”
After Scrapping mRNA Contracts, Kennedy Says mRNA Vaccines ‘May Be Very Effective’ for Cancer
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) mRNA pullback only applies to their use in upper respiratory disease, according to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to support mRNA vaccine technology in some cases like cancer vaccines but not others, despite just last week pulling $500 million in funding from mRNA vaccine research.
In a Wednesday interview with Scripps News, Kennedy noted that HHS’ mRNA pullback is “only for upper respiratory” diseases. “We’re still doing the research on oncology,” where mRNA vaccines “may be very effective,” he said.
In an Aug. 5 news release, HHS terminated 22 mRNA-based contracts under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA. The agency is scrapping these projects “because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections” such as COVID-19 and the flu, Kennedy said at the time. The agency instead will focus on platforms with “stronger safety records,” according to HHS’ announcement.
CDC Data Show Uptick in Some Teen Vaccine Coverage
New survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that uptake of two vaccines routinely recommended for teens increased last year, while coverage with another recommended shot remained flat.
The data from the 2024 National Immunization Survey-Teen, published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, show that, among 16,325 US adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, coverage with more than one dose of the tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine increased from 89.0% in 2023 to 91.3% in 2024. Coverage with one or more dose of the quadrivalent (four-strain) meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MenACWY) rose from 88.4% to 90.1%.
Coverage with one or more Tdap dose was 90% or higher in 39 states, while coverage with one or more MenACWY dose was 90% or higher in 30 states. The survey also found that coverage with other recommended and catch-up vaccines increased in 2024, including the meningococcal group B vaccine (up 4.5 percentage point among 17-year-olds); the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (a 1.3-percentage-point increase in 13- to 17-year-olds with 2 or more doses); and the hepatitis B vaccine (a 1.3-percentage-point increase in teens with 3 or more doses).
“These findings highlight progress in public health activities to improve vaccination coverage,” CDC researchers wrote.
