The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it is reviving a long-defunct task force on the safety of childhood vaccines, responding to a demand from the anti-vaccine organization founded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization Kennedy founded prior to becoming HHS secretary, funded a lawsuit filed in May to compel Kennedy to reestablish the task force and its reports to Congress.
While he was part of Children’s Health Defense in 2018, Kennedy — along with fellow vaccine critic and adviser Del Bigtree — filed a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the reports from the HHS.
When no reports were found, Kennedy and Bigtree sued the department to produce them, part of an effort to bolster their misleading narrative about vaccine safety.
Kennedy said during his confirmation hearing that he supports the childhood vaccine schedule, but he has long called for an investigation into childhood shots, saying they have been inadequately studied.
Reconvening the vaccine safety panel could be a key step toward changing the childhood immunization schedule, which recommends which shots children receive and when.
“Kudos to Secretary Kennedy,” Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, said in a statement. “It took nearly 50 years for HHS to do this, but at last the Secretary is following the law on this critical issue. We are grateful.”
The task force will be comprised of senior leadership from across federal health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya will serve as chairman.
“By reinstating this Task Force, we are reaffirming our commitment to rigorous science, continuous improvement, and the trust of American families,” Bhattacharya said in a statement. “NIH is proud to lead this effort to advance vaccine safety and support innovation that protects children without compromise.”
NIH has not previously been involved in vaccine safety oversight, which has historically been the purview of the FDA and CDC.
Kennedy has questioned the safety of childhood vaccines for decades and frequently claimed existing vaccines that have been on the market for decades and have repeatedly been proven safe — like the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — are risky.
“It’s another politically-controlled forum that can be used for bad messaging and to make investment in and production of vaccines less viable,” said Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California College of the Law at San Francisco.
Vaccines are studied extensively and undergo rigorous safety testing before they come to market and are continuously monitored once they are in use.
Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
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