RFK Jr.’s Buddies Are Back to Undermine Vaccines

The federal government is officially back in business, and sadly so is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s influence on the nation’s public health. Early next month, a panel of outside advisers assembled by Kennedy will meet again, likely wielding a sledgehammer to obtain more vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published a draft agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, scheduled for December 4-5. Among other things, ACIP plans to discuss the vaccination schedule for children as well as “contaminants” in vaccines. Although it’s not entirely clear what ACIP will vote on during this meeting, some of its members will likely try to remove the decades-old recommendation that children be vaccinated against hepatitis B starting at birth — a decision that even some GOP lawmakers are trying to block.

“I want to make America healthier, and don’t start by cutting off recommendations that have made us substantially healthier,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) told CBS News. Facing the nation In an interview published Sunday.

Hijacked ACIP

Earlier this year, Kennedy unilaterally fired all 17 members of ACIP, a panel of outside experts that helps guide the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine policies. He then quickly added new advisers, many of whom — like Kennedy himself — had a history of spreading misinformation about vaccines.

At its two meetings so far, the reorganized ACIP has issued several recommendations that the anti-vax movement has welcomed. It has moved to ban the few remaining vaccines that contain thimerosal, for example, an ingredient that anti-vaxxers have long accused of causing autism with questionable evidence. Although thimerosal was removed from most vaccines as a precaution in the early 2000s, studies have since failed to find any link to autism, and autism rates have continued to rise. ACIP also called on children under age 4 to stop receiving the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine, a decision the previous CDC left up to parents.

These decisions, and the ACIP committee’s general shift away from scientifically supported evaluation, helped fuel the implosion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In late August, RFK Jr. fired former CDC Director Susan Monarrez after only four weeks on the job, because she refused to sign off on ACIP recommendations without conducting her own review; Soon after, many of the CDC’s top leaders resigned in protest.

By far the worst decisions taken by the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee have been limited in scope. Some vaccines today contain thimerosal, and most families were not vaccinating their young children with MMRV. But the prospect of abolishing universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth threatens to be the most sweeping and damaging change yet.

Unscientific fears

Hepatitis B is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. In adults, it is usually transmitted through sex or by sharing contaminated needles. But the virus can also be transmitted from an infected mother to the baby during birth.

Although hepatitis B infection can be managed with antiviral medications if it becomes chronic, there is currently no curative treatment. Most children with hepatitis B will have it for the rest of their lives, and about a quarter will develop serious health problems, including cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Thirty years ago, ACIP and the CDC began recommending that everyone get the hepatitis B vaccine when they are young, eventually moving toward first-dose doses at birth. This strategy was only adopted after previous attempts to vaccinate the most at-risk groups failed to significantly reduce cases. Since its implementation, hepatitis B infection rates, especially among children, have steadily declined in the United States. The vaccine is also safe, as its more serious side effects, such as anaphylaxis, are exceptionally rare and can be controlled with proper monitoring.

At the last meeting of the health care advisory committee in September, staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention argued in support of vaccination at birth and warned that more children would almost certainly become infected with hepatitis B if the policy were rescinded. The two SEC sessions lasted a long time, and at the last minute—amid much confusion about what members were actually voting on—the SEC unexpectedly chose to postpone its scheduled vote on hepatitis B. However, with hepatitis B included on Friday’s agenda, the postponement appears to be short-lived.

The inclusion of childhood vaccinations on Thursday’s agenda is also concerning. Anti-vaxxers have made no secret of their desire to tear the timeline apart if they can. Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccination group founded by RFK Jr., hosted a “Moment of Truth” conference earlier this month. During the conference, Mark Gorton, president of the MAHA Institute — a group founded to support Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy” movement — called for “abolishing the vaccination schedule for children.”

As was the case before, the reformed Intellectual Property Advisory Committee has not revealed the content of its votes scheduled at this next meeting. So it remains uncertain how far its members will go in trying to change the timeline. But there is certainly no reason to be optimistic about what lies ahead in terms of public health in the country under Robert Kennedy Jr.