With Robert F. Kennedy, the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, there’s been a dramatic change in vaccine policy. He has taken some very controversial steps that have been widely criticized. In June, he dismissed all 17 members of a crucial vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This decision has alarmed many advocates given its possible negative impact on public health and vaccine policy across the United States.
Kennedy’s highhanded, unilateral decision to continue to recommend against Covid-19 vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children has generated tooth-and-nail opposition. Going into effect in late May, this announcement came as a surprise by not consulting with credible independent scientific review boards. It completely ignored numerous essential analyses demonstrating that pregnant women are at increased risk from the virus. Critics say by doing so, he is blowing up a decade of scientific research and widespread expert consensus about vaccine safety and efficacy.
The fallout from Kennedy’s actions is already playing out. But reports show that people are already having a hard time getting vaccinated amid the mix-up over confusing new guidelines. As evidenced by long lines in Florida and Texas, parents are eager and desperate to get their young children vaccinated. Or, they fear that vaccines will soon become unavailable or no longer be covered by insurance.
Kennedy’s new advisory panel met for the first time just last month, at the end of June. This panel will look critically at the childhood vaccine schedule. It will evaluate vaccines that lack a formal review over the past seven years. The panel’s formation signals an intent to overhaul existing vaccination protocols, but its approach has raised alarm among healthcare professionals.
“If left unchecked, secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the United States of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation’s children,” – Richard H Hughes IV
Opposition to Kennedy’s extreme policies has coalesced into mobilization and denunciation among medical professionals. Organizations representing pediatricians, internal medicine specialists, infectious disease experts, and high-risk pregnancy physicians have voiced their determination to counteract these changes. They argue that the repeal and replace approach to proven vaccination practices is a danger to public health.
“The professional associations for pediatricians, internal medicine physicians, infectious disease physicians, high-risk pregnancy physicians, and public health professionals will not stand idly by as our system of prevention is dismantled. This ends now.” – Richard H Hughes IV