RFK Jr.‘s vaccine tug of struggle at HHS

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Welcome to The Logoff: The CDC is leaning into anti-vax rhetoric, suggesting in a latest change to its web site that there isn't any fastened scientific consensus on whether or not vaccines trigger autism (they don't).

It additionally comes as a bigger energy battle, centering on Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, is unfolding over the administration’s well being care agenda and vaccine coverage. Whereas Kennedy and Makary have been publicly aligned on most points, information studies recommend that their battle for affect is heating up.

Why are they preventing? A part of the issue could also be clashing administration kinds. However dig just a little deeper, and this seems to be the dynamic: Kennedy, the outsider anti-institutionalist with no medical background, is pushing to go greater and bolder and sooner with altering public well being coverage, whereas Makary, a former Johns Hopkins surgeon, is transferring extra deliberatively.

What does Donald Trump assume? That is the massive query — and the toughest one to reply. Trump is inconsistent and has at occasions chided Kennedy for being overly anti-vaccine. However he additionally delivered an prolonged rant about aluminum in vaccines throughout a White Home occasion. On high of that, the difficulty isn’t a high precedence for him, which creates an influence vacuum that each Kennedy and Makary try to fill.

Why does this matter? The Kennedy-Makary tug-of-war helps us make sense of the Trump vaccine agenda up to now: They’re extra anti-vaccine than any prior administration, however they've additionally hesitated to take greater swings. They wish to appease the Make America Wholesome Once more coalition with out absolutely alienating extra vaccine-friendly voters or the drug business.

But when Kennedy wins out, he may hit the accelerator on overhauling vaccine coverage in his anti-vax picture.

And with that, it’s time to sign off…

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