RFK Jr. fires vaccine advisory board: What to know

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Welcome to The Logoff: At present, Dylan Scott and I are specializing in US Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s determination to fireplace each member of a federal vaccine advisory board, an assault on medical science that may have destructive repercussions for public well being.

What’s the most recent? Kennedy fired each sitting member of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Monday.

What does this board do? For greater than 60 years, the panel has suggested the federal authorities on vaccine coverage, offering steerage — that officers have nearly all the time adopted — on which photographs individuals ought to get and when.

What’s subsequent? The vaccine advisory committee was first convened by the surgeon normal in 1964, however it isn't enshrined in federal regulation. Which means Kennedy can change its membership or dissolve the panel fully if he so needs. In firing the board’s members, Kennedy referred to as it “little greater than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”

What does this imply for us? Absent clear, science-based federal steerage on vaccines, it’ll be tougher for us to know which photographs well being specialists suppose we ought to be getting. And, extra broadly, it’ll be tougher for the inhabitants to realize “herd immunity” — when sufficient persons are vaccinated in opposition to a illness to stop it from spreading broadly.

What’s the large image? Kennedy has an extended historical past as a vaccine “skeptic,” selling unfounded theories concerning the supposed well being dangers of vaccines chargeable for saving thousands and thousands of lives. As Well being secretary, he has made vaccine coverage — and undermining the worth of these vaccines — a centerpiece of his agenda.

And with that, it’s time to sign off…

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