"Last week, former officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned members of Congress that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, was endangering the nation's welfare by dismissing evidence and expertise in favor of his own vaccine skepticism. Kennedy "censored C.D.C. science, politicized its processes, and stripped leaders of independence," Debra Houry, the agency's former chief medical officer, said in a hearing this past Wednesday."
"The following day, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ( ACIP)-the scientific panel that influences U.S. vaccine policy more than any other body-began a chaotic and contentious two-day meeting about updating the country's vaccination recommendations. The committee's members had been handpicked by Kennedy, some of them joining just days before. (Martin Kulldorff, the committee's chair, said that they were still "rookies"; at one point, a hot mike caught someone muttering, "You're an idiot," though it wasn't clear who was talking about whom.)"
Confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declined, and states are asserting more control over vaccine policies, producing a fragmented public-health system. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as HHS Secretary, dismissed evidence and expertise, censored CDC science, politicized processes, and stripped leaders of independence. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices held a chaotic, contentious meeting after Kennedy handpicked several members, some appointed just days earlier. ACIP rescinded endorsement of the M.M.R.V. combination vaccine and considered removing the newborn hepatitis-B dose recommendation, actions that have limited but notable practical impact.
Read at The New Yorker
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