Kennedy's Anti-Vaccine Council Is Going After the Easy Targets

"Today, its members voted to limit the national guidance for a childhood vaccine that has helped protect infants against some of the most dangerous and fast-spreading viral diseases in the United States. If the CDC adopts the committee's advice, the agency will no longer recommend the combination measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine for kids younger than 4, defaulting their first dose of protection against MMR and chickenpox to two separate shots."

"These vaccines are among the most vulnerable to being challenged, on the grounds that they appear more risky or seem less necessary than the rest of the immunizations the CDC recommends. Some other high-income countries, for instance, do not recommend the hepatitis-B vaccine universally at birth; MMRV vaccines have been linked to an increased risk of certain side effects in children under 2."

"Helen Chu, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Washington, told us she sees no reason to alter the current recommendations for these vaccines. But she can imagine how they fit into a broader strategy: "If you were going to pick, these are good ones to pick off first." (Chu was a member of the vaccine advisory panel, known formally as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, until Kennedy abruptly dismissed her in June along with the other 16 sitting members.)"

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisory committee voted to limit national guidance by no longer recommending the combination MMRV vaccine for children younger than four, making the first doses for MMR and varicella two separate shots if CDC adopts the advice. The committee also discussed shifting the first hepatitis-B dose from birth to at least one month old unless the mother tested positive, with a vote planned for the next day. Some high-income countries already omit universal birth hepatitis-B vaccination, and MMRV has been linked to increased side-effect risk in children under two. A dismissed infectious-disease specialist saw no reason to change recommendations but acknowledged strategic targeting.

Read at The Atlantic