Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently told Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group he founded, that he had not acted as aggressively as its members hoped in changing federal health policy. He said that rapid changes would have been short-lived and would have cost him his job, because he must manage his agency competently and follow the law and procedure.
Despite advice from White House political advisers to focus on issues more popular with voters, Kennedy has remained highly focused on vaccines. Some of his major changes to vaccine policy are tied up in court, so he and his close allies are taking more incremental steps. Public health experts fear these steps will further erode confidence in vaccines.
The Department of Health and Human Services has begun numerous studies on possible connections between vaccines and a range of health problems. Some are commissioned from established outside researchers, while others are overseen by political appointees, an approach at odds with how the department has traditionally conducted research. In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued about $46 million in contracts to the Vaccine Safety Datalink. Some topics, such as the link between aluminum salts and asthma, have already been studied carefully. A Danish study of 1.2 million children found no link between aluminum salts and asthma, but Kennedy called it "deceptive."
Speaking at a recent MAHA Data Summit, Kennedy said it is "very, very difficult" to study vaccines with faith that the results are accurate, reflecting his long-held view that the Vaccine Safety Datalink is biased in favor of vaccines. Former federal vaccine safety official Dr. Bruce Gellin said the outside researchers were chosen long ago to build trust with people who doubted government assurances, and suggested Kennedy's concerns reflect a bias toward studies finding vaccines cause harm. Results from all the work will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals, the research groups said.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing