The BIDEN -Administration – in the last few weeks – quietly piled up an important health committee in a movement that could sabotage the vaccine plans of Robert F Kennedy JR.
The former president approved the appointments of eight pro-vaccine candidates with a critical committee that helps to set up America's immunization policy.
Sources say that the flood of 11th hours of appointments, with conditions that last until 2027, is an attempt to block RFK JR to roll out his antivax agenda.
During his senate confirmation hearing this week, RFK JR repeatedly assured members that he would do nothing 'that makes it difficult for people to' take on polio or measles vaccines'.
However, he has often claimed that the risks outweigh the benefits of many vaccines in children and this week he refused to exclude that some can cause autism in children.
A former official of the Senior Health and Human Services department told Stat News the flurry of confirmations to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) 'very intentionally'.
They added: 'It was our goal to fill every vacancy on each [federal advisory committee] With a special focus on those such as ACIP, the department was crucial, where the maintenance of our scientific expertise was crucial. '
But sources fear that Kennedy or who replaces him, if the Senate rejects his nomination to be head of the Ministry of Health and Human Services (HHS)-the committee members can dismiss, all of whom have agreements.
In the last few months, the BIDEN administration blocked the health agenda of the Trump administration, which would lead Skeptic RFK JR, by approving eight new appointments at an important committee that has formed the American vaccination policy
The ACIP consists of clinicians and scientists who recommend schemes, dosage and vaccing inspection.
The new experts are a mix of experts in the field of pediatric and geriatric infectious diseases, experts in the field of health behavior and former public health officials
When the FDA approves a new vaccine, the ACIP is responsible for evaluating the safety and efficacy data.
They all emphasize the crucial role of vaccines in preventing infectious diseases and improving public health. This includes supporting established vaccine schedules and guidelines, such as those of the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
They also emphasize the importance of vaccines, not only for individual health, but also for community protection. Their work often includes training the public in the field of vaccine safety and tackling concerns about side effects or vaccine hesitation.
Some of the new members will be controversial among vaccine-skeptic parents.
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatrics professor at Stanford University, is an avid supporter of eliminating non-medical exemptions for vaccines in schools.
ACIP submits its recommendations about whether the vaccine should be approved at the CDC, which does not have to be with their judgment, but often it does.
The ACIP also regularly assesses the safety data about already approved vaccines in search of signs of injuries of side effects.
But the HHS secretary has the complete authority to reform Acip, including its membership, mandate, athlete, meeting frequency or even his existence.
The step of the former president was 'very intentionally', his sources revealed
Measles vaccinations were stuck for the pandemic and since then the speeds have continued to fall
RFK JR has insisted that as HHS's head he would not limit access to life -saving vaccines for polio, measles and other shots.
But Democrats in the Biden government and scientists fear that he could do a reverse way when he was appointed.
Possible actions include canceling or postponing meetings, blocking the outgoing HHS -Baas Xavier Becerra's, the removal of current members, the more often intention of ACIP recommendations or fully resolving the committee.
New members can also disrupt the recommendations of ACIP by again classifying certain vaccines in children, because they require 'shared clinical decision -making', which means that they would only be given after a parent consults a doctor instead of as part of routine immunisations.
Dr. Larry Gostin, director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law from Georgetown University, said: 'You can question Acip certain vaccines and have doubts about them.
“That will mainly affect the policymakers of the State in Red States, who will then release the vaccination laws in children.”
She may not take away the softening of recommendations for vaccines, but experts in the field of public health fear that it will still lead to fewer parents vaccinating their children because the shots seem unimportant.
According to Dr. Paul Offitt said an expert in infectious diseases in children in the children's hospital of Philadelphia: 'He could do many things. If the FDA chooses to give a medicine or a vaccine in license, he could say that I don't think enough studies have been done. He could subject the drug advisory committees.
“Kennedy would be a chaos agent when it came to vaccines and the people who would suffer the most are children because it is always the most vulnerable among us who experience our ignorance.”
The new ACIP members will officially participate in the next meeting of the Committee 26-28 February. Whether it actually happens or is not in the air.
A meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, another vaccine advice group within HHS, planned for the beginning of February has already been canceled, while members of the Technology Health Information Advisory Committee were told that future meetings of the group have been postponed for an indefinite period.
If RFK JR has been approved, he will be responsible for the supervision of various agencies, including the FDA and CDC, as well as resettlement of children, and has a budget of around $ 140 billion.
