Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reshaping the federal government's stance on vaccinations.
Since being sworn in on Feb. 13, Kennedy's department has canceled infectious disease meetings and begun reviewing contracts with vaccine manufacturers, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
More changes are reportedly on the way.
People familiar with the matter told the Journal that Kennedy is considering potential new members for a committee that issues recommendations on American vaccination protocol and is also weighing a new conflict-of-interest policy for the panel that would disqualify some of its current members.
HHS is scrutinizing the areas it oversees in an effort to understand the root causes of chronic illness, a White House spokesman said, while also reevaluating its conflict-of-interest policies.
Kennedy "absolutely will live up to his word in taking in expertise and science from all sides," Zen Honeycutt, a Kennedy supporter and founder of Moms Across America, told the Journal. Honeycutt's nonprofit is opposed to pesticides and genetically modified foods.
The new Health and Human Services secretary has faced renewed criticism for his vaccine skepticism as he leads the country's public-health response to a measles outbreak in Texas responsible for the death of an unvaccinated child.
He posted on social media on Friday that stamping out the disease was "top priority," but had been blasted by some infectious-disease experts and doctors for saying previously that "we have measles outbreaks every year."
In an opinion piece published on Sunday, Kennedy urged parents to speak with their child's doctor about vaccinating against measles, but also said that "the decision to vaccinate is a personal one."
"I hope that from his new vantage point he sees how important vaccines are for protecting children and adults," Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Journal.
Following Kennedy's confirmation, HHS's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority reportedly suspended a $460.7 million contract with Vaxart to develop a COVID-19 vaccine administered by mouth. The department said it was also reviewing its $590 million contract with Moderna to develop a vaccine for avian flu.
"While it is crucial that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services support pandemic preparedness, four years of the Biden administration's failed oversight have made it necessary to review agreements for vaccine production," an HHS spokesman told the Journal regarding the Moderna contract.
The Vaxart contract was being reevaluated as part of the Trump administration's across-the-board effort to cut wasteful government spending, according to a White House spokesman.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration suddenly canceled a meeting of vaccine experts who advise the government and pharmaceutical companies on which flu strains to target with next season's vaccines and a Feb. 26 scheduled meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was postponed without being rescheduled.
"I think [Kennedy's] just putting the brakes on things, saying, Slow down, let's look at things," Jeff Hutt, spokesman for the Make America Healthy Again political-action committee, said.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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