By The Defender Staff

RFK Jr. Ally Says Vaccines Now a ‘Losing Issue’ With White House

Bloomberg reported:

The White House’s pullback on vaccine policy is a key strategic decision ahead of the midterm elections and is sidelining Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement, according to a close ally of the US health secretary.

Robert Malone, former vice chair of a government panel that sets immunization policy, criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to silence discussions about vaccines on a podcast from the Informed Consent Action Network that posted on Friday. ICAN was founded by Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist and former communications director for Kennedy’s 2024 presidential bid.

Shortly after Kennedy was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, he took aim at traditional vaccine policies, which he had long criticized. He undertook a complete overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization panel, narrowed Covid shot recommendations and offered just tepid support of measles shots during a nationwide outbreak. This year, Kennedy has been largely silent on vaccines, and a federal court overturned some of his earlier moves in March.

Most Say Trump Administration Has Not Done Enough to ‘Make America Healthy Again’: Survey

The Hill reported:

Most Americans say the Trump administration has not done enough to “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA), according to a Monday poll. In the Politico poll, 52 percent of respondents said the administration “has not done enough to Make America Healthy Again,” while 26 percent said the opposite. Twenty-two percent of respondents said they were unsure if the administration has done enough in alignment with MAHA.

Throughout Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s time in office, decades of public health norms have been flipped on their head. The secretary has boasted about his changes as key victories for his MAHA agenda while his actions have been branded as “chaos” by critics.

What to Know About Lamont’s Plan to Expand CT Vaccine Authority

CT Mirror reported:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stirred up widespread uncertainty surrounding U.S. vaccine policy during his time as Health and Human Services Secretary. Under Kennedy’s leadership, the federal agency has overhauled the committee that issues vaccine recommendations and amended longstanding guidance for childhood immunizations. However, a federal judge in Massachusetts issued an order in late March temporarily blocking every major vaccine policy change made in the last year.

Gov. Ned Lamont has a proposal this session — House Bill 5044 — that would expand Connecticut’s authority over vaccine policy. He said it’s meant “to speak clearly on the importance of vaccines” amid “mixed messages” from the federal government. The Public Health Committee has also raised an identical Senate bill. “We are going with the traditional vaccination schedule. It’s been endorsed by all those medical groups. No politics. Let’s follow the lead of medical science,” Lamont said during an interview with The Connecticut Mirror.

Both bills would expand the power of Connecticut’s public health commissioner to establish vaccine recommendations for adults and would require state-regulated insurance plans to cover the cost of all state-recommended shots.

Makers of Dietary Supplements Push the FDA to Allow Peptides and Other New Ingredients

PBS News reported:

Makers of dietary supplements are pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expand the types of ingredients they can put in their products, a change that could open the door to more marketing of peptides, probiotics and other trendy wellness offerings.

The FDA was holding a public meeting Friday to discuss its longstanding criteria for dietary supplements and whether they could be broadened to include substances that don’t come from food, vitamins, herbs or other traditional ingredients. FDA officials will hear from industry executives, consumer advocates and academics.

It’s the first such meeting since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the nation’s top health official last year. Kennedy has vowed to “end the war at FDA” on dietary supplements, peptides and other products that are popular within his Make America Healthy Again movement.

Friday’s meeting came at the request of the Natural Products Association, an industry group that has clashed with the FDA over certain new supplement ingredients. The group asked for the meeting in a January letter, citing “the cost and uncertainty that arise when regulatory expectations are unclear.”

The post RFK Jr. Ally Says Vaccines Now a ‘Losing Issue’ With White House + More appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

 

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