Robert F Kennedy JR’s newly appointed vaccine advisory group faces criticism from pediatricians for announcing a reevaluation of the current vaccination schedule for children and adolescents.
Experts warn that the move appears to be aimed at undermining public trust in immunity.
Dr. Sean O’Leary, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Infectious Diseases Committee, said in a Wednesday press conference that the rest of the world is studying the United States and its new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP).
“At this point, it’s really an embarrassment, what’s going on with ACIP,” O’Leary said.
And the new ACIP has Incite chaos During Wednesday’s meeting, the AAP stressed the need to continue to work on publishing independent, scientifically based vaccine policy infrastructure.
Wednesday was the first ACIP meeting since Health Secretary Kennedy rejected all 17 existing voters and installed eight new members, the group reportedly lost one member before the meeting was called. Some of these new appointments are related to the spread of vaccine misinformation.
AAP representatives do not participate because they believe the new ACIP is “illegal”. AAP’s own meeting plan follows, providing pediatric experts with the opportunity to respond to the statements and guidance of the new committee.
“What we heard at this meeting was really a false narrative that the current vaccine policy is flawed and needs to be fixed. It’s totally wrong,” O’Leary said.
“Vaccine policy has saved millions, trillions of dollars, and our immune system is a model for the rest of the world.”
Among the early ACIP initiatives, there is an independent working group that plans to examine vaccines that have not been recently reviewed, especially those that have not been studied in more than seven years. One vaccine that draws immediate attention is the birth dose of hepatitis C. O’Leary criticized the focus of the review of the vaccine timeline, saying “has been an anti-vaccine telescope for years.”
“At first glance, it sounds good, but the truth is that these vaccines are essentially always reviewed in real time through a variety of different mechanisms, safety surveillance mechanisms, and disease surveillance mechanisms,” said O’Leary.
He added: “The birth dose of hepatitis C is one of the cornerstones of our prevention policy in the United States and it is very successful in reducing the rate of hepatitis B obtained during perinatal period.”
AAP article It is said that babies who were born with hepatitis C are 90% likely to face a chronic infection. Without medical intervention, about 25% of children will die of the disease.
Kennedy’s decision to overhaul ACIP has attracted the attention of medical professionals. Comments from the new group include vaccines such as MMR Shot that prevent measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (varicella) and the hepatitis C B vaccine issued at birth.
“We still need to maintain higher coverage of MMR, and you can see measles outbreaks in real time,” O’Leary said.
“We need to maintain very high coverage of measles vaccination. For me, this ACIP discussion is designed to seed the mistrust of the measles vaccine.”
The United States is now enduring the biggest Measles outbreak For decades. The measles outbreak centered around West Texas, killing two unvaccinated children and an adult and spreading to neighboring countries. In 2000, measles had been declared from the United States, but it has been spreading in the vaccine community.
Health & Wellness Contributor
A wellness enthusiast and certified nutrition advisor, Meera covers everything from healthy living tips to medical breakthroughs. Her articles aim to inform and inspire readers to live better every day.
