Latest news with #childhoodimmunization
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
HHS revives child vaccine safety panel sought by anti-vaccine activists
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday it is reviving a long-defunct task force aimed at improving the safety of childhood vaccines, fulfilling a demand of anti-vaccine activists. The resurrection of the panel appears to be the first concrete step to achieve HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s longtime goal of upending the current childhood immunization schedule, which recommends which shots children receive and when. The task force will make recommendations focused on developing and refining childhood vaccines that result in 'fewer and less serious adverse reactions,' improving the reporting of adverse reactions and supporting research on vaccine safety, according to HHS. The first report will be sent to Congress within two years. 'By reinstating this Task Force, we are reaffirming our commitment to rigorous science, continuous improvement, and the trust of American families," Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the National Institutes of Health who will lead the task force, said in a statement. 'NIH is proud to lead this effort to advance vaccine safety and support innovation that protects children without compromise." Congress in 1986 mandated the creation of the task force as part of legislation to address childhood vaccine safety. The Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines was disbanded in 1998 and released a report that year recommending an expansion of research on vaccine safety and surveillance of injuries. Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, funded a lawsuit filed against Kennedy in May, seeking to compel him to reconvene the task force and submit reports to Congress every two years. Walter Orenstein, a former member of the task force, said reviving the panel isn't necessarily harmful and improvements can still be made to the country's 'really good vaccine safety monitoring system.' But the revamped task force could be a problem if HHS 'constitutes it with people who are extremely biased, who don't have accepted scientific credentials, who have conflicts of interest,' said Orenstein, who led the U.S. immunization program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1988 to 2004. Senior leaders from federal health agencies, including the NIH, CDC and Food and Drug Administration, will serve on the task force, according to HHS. Kennedy in June ousted all members of a federal committee of independent vaccine advisers and replaced them with his own appointees, most of whom have criticized coronavirus vaccine policies. Weeks later, that committee announced plans to review the cumulative health effects of the entire childhood vaccination schedule. The schedule includes more than a dozen routine immunizations, many required by states to attend public school, including measles, mumps and rubella, polio and pertussis. Studies have found the cumulative effects of the childhood immunization schedule to be safe. Vaccines undergo rigorous safety testing before they are licensed by the FDA and are continuously monitored for safety once they are in use. While Kennedy said he supports the childhood immunization schedule during his Senate confirmation hearings, he has previously blasted the schedule as 'overburdened' with too many shots and threatening to shorten lives and cause chronic disease. The May lawsuit aiming to re-establish the task force made similar claims that the schedule included too many vaccines and that the increase in vaccine dosage correlates with the rise of autism. Overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates no link between immunization and autism. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a physician who chairs the Senate's health committee, publicly grappled with whether to support Kennedy's nomination. He ultimately voted in favor of Kennedy after securing commitments that the then-nominee would protect federal vaccine oversight. That included a pledge that whoever chairs the health committee would get to choose a representative on any board or commission formed to review vaccine safety. This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Caitlin Gilbert contributed to this report.
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
The Importance of Vaccines for Children
To the Editor: Re 'I Thought We Were Done With These Diseases,' by Perri Klass (Opinion guest essay, July 7): Dr. Klass's essay about the importance of childhood vaccines made me think back on my 40 years as a pediatrician at a community health center in Boston. A large majority of my patients were immigrants, mostly from Latin America. I never once had immigrant parents question or refuse immunizations. They had seen children in their home countries become gravely ill and die of the diseases that immunizations can prevent. They were eager to protect their own children from these preventable diseases. Julie SilbermanWellfleet, Mass. To the Editor: During excavations as an archaeologist, I've seen firsthand the 50 percent mortality rate in children that was common before the arrival of modern medicine. Thanks to vaccines, today's cemeteries are now filled with the graves of adults who were vaccinated and got to grow up. The next time you drive by a cemetery from the 18th or 19th century, look for all the little headstones, each holding a baby or small child who didn't grow up because of smallpox, measles, polio or whooping cough. If we stop childhood vaccinations, we'll start seeing many little headstones in cemeteries again, except now we'll know that these children could have been saved. Laurie BurgessToms Brook, Va. To the Editor: Re 'Measles Cases at High in U.S., Raising Alarm' (front page, July 10): At 92, I am old enough to remember the sometimes frightening outbreaks of measles, the darkened sickrooms, the coughs and rashes and family distress. I also remember the childhood friend whose measles led to encephalitis and permanent brain damage. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
