RFK Jr.’s vaccine overhaul puts pregnant women and children at risk

On Friday the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted - to end its recommendation that all infants receive a vaccine for hepatitis B at birth The vote came after a contentious discussion on Thursday and days after Vinay Prasad director of the FDA s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research CBER claimed in a memo obtained by multiple news outlets but not made inhabitants that the COVID- vaccine caused the death of children The allegation was made without any known evidence The current vaccine approval process Prasad stated in the memo falls short Citizens physical condition experts sounded the alarm that overhauling the childhood vaccine process could reduce accessibility to vaccines for children and pregnant women and put their robustness at hazard This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children Dr Susan J Kressly president of the American Academy of Pediatrics noted in a media comment I want to reassure parents and clinicians that there is no new or concerning information about the hepatitis B vaccine that is prompting this change nor has children s liability of contracting hepatitis B changed Instead this is the end of a deliberate strategy to sow fear and distrust among families Since ACIP has recommended a hepatitis B vaccine for all infants which has resulted in a drop in severe infections between and The organization now recommends administering the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine days after birth for all children whose mothers tested negative for the complaint instead of receiving the first dose within the first hours of life In a press conference days before the vote Dr Raynard Washington chair of the Big Cities Healthcare Coalition commented any fences created by bureaucracy or process certainly do pose a threat to the constituents s vitality A suggested delay in administering the vaccine could conclusion in families not having access to hepatitis B vaccines he disclosed Details on how this will play out in real life remain unclear However hypothetically putting that responsibility on pregnant people having to determine whether or not to give their newborn the dose right after birth or wait days would be entirely irresponsible Washington stated Related RFK s individualist rhetoric hides a deeper citizens medical threat All the things happening at the point of birth and having to think specifically about a Hep B vaccine that responsibility should not go back to a parent independently Washington disclosed We should be able to have providers able to help parents make those decisions Delaying the dose Washington added also puts the newborn at pitfall of advancing an infection At a separate press conference Dr Sean O Leary chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases warned the U S is now entering a dangerous new phase in Secretary Kennedy s campaign to shut down scientific expertise silence the best available evidence and replace it with his own personal agenda The childhood immunization schedule is an pivotal framework that we use to protect children from harmful and potentially deadly childhood diseases O Leary commented And every vaccine on that schedule and the recommended timing of it exists for a reason We need your help to stay independent Subscribe the present day to promotion Salon s progressive journalism The timing of each dose for a child is critical and is based on the age when a child s immune system can provide optimal protection after vaccination The timing is a balance between the earliest time protection can be provided and the age at which the child is at highest vulnerability for the infection There s no reason to delay or space out vaccines O Leary revealed Doing so just puts children at exposure O Leary reported any changes made could be devastating to children s physical condition and inhabitants fitness as a whole I also want to remind everyone that AAP releases its own recommended childhood vaccine schedule O Leary explained We ve done that since the s In the memo obtained by outlets earlier this week revealing more details about Kennedy s vaccine agenda Prasad notified FDA staff that the agency plans to also re-evaluate yearly flu-shot policies consider limits on simultaneous vaccinations and require stricter safety and efficacy figures from pharmaceutical manufacturers before approval There was also a focus on vaccines in pregnant women Prasad noted that COVID- vaccines had not been tested in randomized controlled trials in pregnant women which is true But the memo failed to weigh the prospective risks of vaccines against the risks of being unvaccinated There have been several reports of pregnant women particularly those with comorbidities becoming critically ill from COVID- According to the Centers for Illness Control and Prevention pregnant women have a higher liability of severe outcomes of COVID- than those who aren t pregnant The same is true for influenza Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Discipline Stephanie Gaw an assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco s Center for Reproductive Sciences stated Salon that the achievable requirements for pregnant people and vaccines would put pregnant patients at an even greater disadvantage in regards to access to life-saving vaccines Trials to demonstrate a reduction in complaint burden require thousands of assessment participants which would be incredibly costly and likely unachievable in a reasonable time frame Gaw noted This approach is also inefficient we have an abundance of facts that antibody responses are an excellent proxy measure for vaccine effectiveness against affection Gaw pointed Salon to studies published in Nature Medicine and Science Translational Medicine While it may seem that safety will be improved with higher standards for efficacy prior to approval I fear that this new strategy will definitely harm people by setting the bar too high Gaw stated Meanwhile masses strength departments are already struggling with local vaccine access For example Phil Huang the director and soundness authority of Dallas County Healthcare and Human Services explained his department has felt the reduction in COVID- vaccination funding firsthand He attributed staff layoffs to the decline in funding and the cancellation of locality outreach events The U S Department of Strength and Human Services HHS canceled million in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed earlier this year We ve been under-resourced for specific of the immunization exercises Huang explained The COVID funds were not just used for COVID but really to help all of our vaccination efforts and so that has definitely impacted us with less staff As for the hepatitis B vaccine the AAP will continue to recommend the first dose within the first hours of life All babies should receive a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within hours of birth a second dose at one to two months and a third dose at six months Dr Kressly reported The pacing of these doses has been rigorously tested and proven to be safe and effective over several decades Read more about RFK Jr RFK Jr is laundering Christian right views as MAHA RFK Jr cares more about french fries than US farms The real reason Trump will never fire RFK Jr The hypocrisy of RFK Jr preaching real food RFK Jr tightens his chokehold on the nation s citizens robustness The post RFK Jr s vaccine overhaul puts pregnant women and children at hazard appeared first on Salon com