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Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
Health secretary RFK Jr. abruptly fires CDC vaccine advisory panel
Proponents of vaccines have feared Kennedy, who has been openly critical of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, might take such a step, but were still shocked. 'We have just demonstrated that politics will overrun science in this administration. It scares me to think of what's ahead,' said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Paul Offit, a former member of the committee and one of the developers of a vaccine that protects against rotavirus infection, said the committee's work over decades has markedly improved the health of children and adults in this country. Advertisement 'They should be given an award, not fired,' said Offit, an infectious diseases pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Offit also called for a public response to the move from Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chair of the Senate Health Committee, who expressed grave concerns about Kennedy's anti-vaccine positions during his confirmation hearing. Though he appeared at points to be reluctant to vote for Kennedy, Cassidy did in the end give him his vote — but only after extracting a number of promises, including that he would keep the ACIP in place. Advertisement The step followed The ACIP meets three times a year — more often during emergencies like the Covid pandemic — to review data on vaccines and recommend on how they should be used. The group studies vaccines known to be in the regulatory pipeline and vaccines that have recently been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, advising the CDC on who they should be offered to once they have been approved. Its next meeting was scheduled for later this month.
29-05-2025
- Health
Why healthy children may need vaccination as RFK Jr. cuts COVID shot recommendation for some kids
Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a video posted on X that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer be recommending COVID-19 vaccines for "healthy children and pregnant people." In the video, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said there is no evidence that healthy children "need" the vaccine. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya also appeared in the video. Public health experts said they were surprised by the way the decision was announced. "The risks are real of COVID but, in general, for an otherwise healthy kid, the bad stuff is thankfully on the low side," Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccinologist and president and co-director of the Atria Research Institute, which focuses on disease prevention, told ABC News. "But you have to keep remembering that the risks of the vaccine are lower still," he continued. "You can get the vaccine and get infected, but your infection will be much less severe, or you cannot get the vaccine and get infected and have far higher rates of illness and complications and even a risk of death." Risks of COVID in children The current COVID-19 vaccine, the updated 2024-25 shot, was until recently recommended for all Americans ages 6 months and older. While those with one or more underlying conditions are at higher risk of severe COVD, anybody who becomes infected with the virus can be hospitalized, develop severe disease and die. When the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides advice and guidance on the control of vaccine-preventable diseases, presented data at its last meeting, it "showed that 152 children died last year of COVID. 40% of those children were perfectly healthy," Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. "So when [Kennedy] says he's not recommending the vaccine for healthy children, that flies in the face of data," he added. Offit explained that usually it's the ACIP that discusses if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say on who should get what vaccine. "That's not the way this played out. You basically had three men standing up in a little Twitter event making this declaration … without any input from the public, without any input from experts, just these three people, specifically RFK Jr. at the center," Offit said. There is also a risk of long-term side effects even in otherwise healthy children, according to experts. As of 2023, more than 1 million U.S. children may have been affected by long COVID at some point, a CDC study published in February found. At the time the survey was being conducted, approximately 293,000 children were experiencing the condition. "About a million U.S. kids, it's estimated, have [had] long COVID," Poland said. "If you get the vaccine, you can reduce that risk. Getting the vaccine decreases ER visits and hospitalization by about 40%." A CDC-led study, published in February found that COVID mRNA vaccination lowered the risk of having at least one or two long COVID symptoms in children ages 5 to 17. Poland and Offit said there is also a community benefit from being vaccinated. When otherwise healthy children are vaccinated, it protects vulnerable members of the community from infection. Although immunity wanes, COVID-19 vaccines do, at least temporarily, provide some protection against transmission. "I would say the primary benefit is to the actual child who gets immunized. There's a secondary, but admittedly transient, benefit to the community," Poland said. "The protection against transmission is short-lived. It's there for a period of time. It's there, but it's transient. But when you do it across a community, you get added benefits." Questions remain on new policy Offit said it's unclear if Kennedy's announcement means the CDC will no longer recommend COVID vaccines to healthy children who are previously vaccinated or up to date on vaccines or if the announcement applies to all children regardless of vaccination status. "I assume what he's saying is that otherwise healthy children who have been fully vaccinated don't necessarily benefit from a yearly vaccine," Offit said. "If that's what he means, that's what he should say. He didn't say yearly dosing. He said 'healthy children.'" Federal health officials also did not elaborate on what "healthy" children means, which the experts said is bound to lead to some confusion. Poland said this is because Kennedy has made previous public comments on the growing rate of chronic disease in children, which could mean that he considers many children "unhealthy." For example, in the White House's Make America Healthy Again Commission report on chronic disease, which was published last week, it cited an unnamed study that allegedly found 77% of young Americans are ineligible for military service due to chronic conditions. "That's saying, in effect, that 77% of the U.S. childhood population is not healthy," Poland said.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Why healthy children may need vaccination as RFK Jr. cuts COVID shot recommendation for some kids
Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a video posted on X that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer be recommending COVID-19 vaccines for "healthy children and pregnant people." In the video, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said there is no evidence that healthy children "need" the vaccine. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya also appeared in the video. Public health experts said they were surprised by the way the decision was announced. MORE: Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week? "The risks are real of COVID but, in general, for an otherwise healthy kid, the bad stuff is thankfully on the low side," Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccinologist and president and co-director of the Atria Research Institute, which focuses on disease prevention, told ABC News. "But you have to keep remembering that the risks of the vaccine are lower still," he continued. "You can get the vaccine and get infected, but your infection will be much less severe, or you cannot get the vaccine and get infected and have far higher rates of illness and complications and even a risk of death." The current COVID-19 vaccine, the updated 2024-25 shot, was until recently recommended for all Americans ages 6 months and older. While those with one or more underlying conditions are at higher risk of severe COVD, anybody who becomes infected with the virus can be hospitalized, develop severe disease and die. When the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides advice and guidance on the control of vaccine-preventable diseases, presented data at its last meeting, it "showed that 152 children died last year of COVID. 40% of those children were perfectly healthy," Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. "So when [Kennedy] says he's not recommending the vaccine for healthy children, that flies in the face of data," he added. Offit explained that usually it's the ACIP that discusses if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say on who should get what vaccine. "That's not the way this played out. You basically had three men standing up in a little Twitter event making this declaration … without any input from the public, without any input from experts, just these three people, specifically RFK Jr. at the center," Offit said. There is also a risk of long-term side effects even in otherwise healthy children, according to experts. As of 2023, more than 1 million U.S. children may have been affected by long COVID at some point, a CDC study published in February found. At the time the survey was being conducted, approximately 293,000 children were experiencing the condition. MORE: What we know about the safety, efficacy of mRNA vaccines amid recent scrutiny "About a million U.S. kids, it's estimated, have [had] long COVID," Poland said. "If you get the vaccine, you can reduce that risk. Getting the vaccine decreases ER visits and hospitalization by about 40%." A CDC-led study, published in February found that COVID mRNA vaccination lowered the risk of having at least one or two long COVID symptoms in children ages 5 to 17. Poland and Offit said there is also a community benefit from being vaccinated. When otherwise healthy children are vaccinated, it protects vulnerable members of the community from infection. Although immunity wanes, COVID-19 vaccines do, at least temporarily, provide some protection against transmission. "I would say the primary benefit is to the actual child who gets immunized. There's a secondary, but admittedly transient, benefit to the community," Poland said. "The protection against transmission is short-lived. It's there for a period of time. It's there, but it's transient. But when you do it across a community, you get added benefits." Offit said it's unclear if Kennedy's announcement means the CDC will no longer recommend COVID vaccines to healthy children who are previously vaccinated or up to date on vaccines or if the announcement applies to all children regardless of vaccination status. "I assume what he's saying is that otherwise healthy children who have been fully vaccinated don't necessarily benefit from a yearly vaccine," Offit said. "If that's what he means, that's what he should say. He didn't say yearly dosing. He said 'healthy children.'" Federal health officials also did not elaborate on what "healthy" children means, which the experts said is bound to lead to some confusion. Poland said this is because Kennedy has made previous public comments on the growing rate of chronic disease in children, which could mean that he considers many children "unhealthy." For example, in the White House's Make America Healthy Again Commission report on chronic disease, which was published last week, it cited an unnamed study that allegedly found 77% of young Americans are ineligible for military service due to chronic conditions. "That's saying, in effect, that 77% of the U.S. childhood population is not healthy," Poland said. Why healthy children may need vaccination as RFK Jr. cuts COVID shot recommendation for some kids originally appeared on
Axios
29-05-2025
- Health
- Axios
What to know about COVID shots after RFK Jr. changed recommendation
Getting insurers to cover COVID-19 shots for healthy kids and healthy pregnant women may be much harder now that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dropped the CDC's recommendation for those groups. Why it matters: While most Americans under 65 have stopped seeking out COVID boosters, health experts say the change will erect cost and access hurdles for two groups at greater risk of developing serious complications from the virus. The big picture: Kennedy began pulling back access to COVID-19 vaccines last week when the FDA began to require drug manufacturers to conduct more studies as a condition for approving updated COVID-19 vaccines for healthy adults under age 65. Most doctors and pharmacies would likely still be able to recommend and administer the vaccine off label to these groups, experts say. However, it's very likely insurance coverage will dry up due to the changes Kennedy made to the recommended vaccine schedule on Tuesday. What they're saying: "That's now the license recommendation. So anybody who chooses to use the vaccine who's not in a high risk group is using it off off label, which means that it's unlikely to be covered by insurance," said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee. It could mean a 40-year-old mother with a high-risk child who has leukemia may no longer qualify for coverage to get extra protection against the virus, Offit said. The insurer trade group AHIP said it was unable to comment on coverage decisions but added it was "reviewing the announcement closely." It's unclear how much patients would have to pay out of pocket at the doctor's office or pharmacy counter. CDC lists prices for a 10-pack of the vaccine from $58 to $140 but some uninsured patients previously reported prices at the pharmacy counter approaching $200. Even if insurers continue paying for the vaccine, the Vaccine for Children Program — which funds CDC recommended vaccines for children in families who don't otherwise have insurance — will likely stop covering the shots, said Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC "For lower income kids, they will not have the choice about about vaccinations, and that is just wrong," he said. Between the lines: Many Americans have at least some protection from past COVID shots, from having contracted the virus or both. The medical community has also learned a lot about how to temper the damage from the virus. But the youngest Americans don't have that same protection and can face risks of serious outcomes, with long COVID still a threat. "You have the leading voice for public health in this country basically saying 'children don't need a vaccine and it's just not true," Offit said. Already less than 5% of kids under 5 are getting the COVID shot. "Just in the past year, 152 children died from this virus and 40% of them were not in a high-risk group, which is pretty much where we were at the beginning of the pandemic," he said. Meanwhile, medical organizations raised alarm at recommendations begin pulled for pregnant women. Some noted that pregnancy was listed as a risk factor for developing severe COVID-19 when the Trump administration announced steps to limit the shots to seniors and high-risk patients.
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Concerned about losing access to COVID boosters? Here's how to make your voice heard.
Advertisement The FDA says the change reflects a more targeted and evidence-driven approach to vaccination. In their jointly published article, Makary and Prasad wrote that 'the benefit of repeat dosing — particularly among low-risk persons who may have previously received multiple doses of Covid-19 vaccines, had multiple Covid-19 infections, or both — is uncertain.' The goal, they added, is to produce 'gold-standard data on persons at low risk.' Some public health experts warn that if boosters are no longer authorized for healthy people under 65, insurers could stop covering them — making the shots more expensive or entirely out of reach, especially for low-income families, essential workers, and communities already facing barriers to care — and further eroding public trust in vaccines. Advertisement 'I don't think anything that they're proposing is going to make these vaccines safer. I don't think anything that they're proposing is going to make these vaccines more effective,' said Dr. Paul Offit, a virology and immunology expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 'I think their basic premise, that they will once again regain lost public trust in vaccines by setting it up the way they're doing, is also wrong.' He added: 'It's a false solution for a false premise. The reason people don't get vaccinated is because they don't fear the disease anymore. They think COVID is not a problem, they read a lot of misinformation about the vaccine — including from our current Secretary of Health and Human Services.' COVID vaccines, including boosters for healthy people under 65, have been authorized each year based on safety and efficacy data reviewed by FDA and CDC advisory panels. Offit and other critics argue that the agency's new approach disregards this Dr. Robyn Riseberg, founder of Boston Community Pediatrics, said her primary concern is how the policy change was proposed. 'The biggest issue for me is that the process that we created is not being followed,' she said. Riseberg noted that the decision was published in a journal without review by two longstanding external advisory panels — the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'When you take out those panels of experts and just let, in this case, two people make a decision, I think you're setting a precedent for not using scientific evidence to guide national policy,' she said. Advertisement 'The people who will be harmed the most are the people who are the most vulnerable,' Riseberg added. 'Kids and people living in poor housing conditions, with asthma, or other risk factors,' she said. Some public health advocates worry that this approach — limiting access to a widely used product based on narrower evidentiary standards — could be used to justify restrictions on other vaccines or medications in the future. Offit shared that concern. 'We have a head of Health and Human Services who has for 20 years been anti-vaccine because he believes that vaccines cause far more harm than good,' he said. 'He believes vaccines have replaced infectious diseases with chronic ones. I think he will do everything he can in his power to make [vaccines] less available, less affordable.' The public has the opportunity to weigh in. As part of the federal rulemaking process, the FDA is accepting public comments through an online portal until 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, May 23. Anyone can submit feedback — supportive or critical — by visiting Nathan Metcalf can be reached at
