The Vaccine Committee and RFK, Jr. are changing vaccine recommendations, restricting access to some. Here's how to prepare.
before the House Appropriations Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on May 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kennedy is testifying before the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on the Department of Health and Human Services' proposed 2026 fiscal year budget.
, the meeting last week of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was notable for reservations expressed by committee members newly appointed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., towards vaccine safety. These concerns were relitigated despite many studies, data, and expert opinions showing their safety. Experts in vaccines and immunology widely criticized the new ACIP's recommendations. Jake Scott, a Stanford infectious disease expert, told CIDRAP News, “The claim that children getsounds intuitive but ignores basic immunology.” Similarly, Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told CIDRAP that ACIP has "transformed into an organ for the spreading of anti-vaccine propaganda." These sentiments were echoed by many online. The changes in the membership and focus of ACIP are so bad that the American Academy of Pediatrics boycotted the meeting. Their president, Sue Kressly, MD, FAAP, stated, “But now, with the committee dismissals, it isWe won't lend our name or our expertise to a system that is being politicized at the expense of children's health.” What do the changes at ACIP mean for you and your family’s ability to stay safer by being vaccinated?Influenza vaccines for the upcoming season were approved by the committee except for multi-dose vials of vaccine which were not, because they contain the preservative thimerosal, a derivative of ethylmercury that has been used in vaccines since the 1930s. Even theThe ACIP decided, however, that people should only receive single-dose flu vaccines that are free of thimerosal. This came after an unusual presentation by Lyn Redwood, RN, who is president emerita for the Children’s Health Defense. That group is a very well-known anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy. Normally, an ACIP working group would carefully review data in presentations and recommend whether it should be presented to the entire group. This was not done with Redwood. In fact, her original presentation. The vote on thimersol will mostly affect vaccines that we provide globally, especially where refrigeration is a challenge. More importantly, Jeremy Faust, MD, notes in his substack, “This won’t do anything to improve vaccine safety, but itACIP did not finalize recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. They will next meet sometime in the fall. In the meantime, Kennedy has sown confusion by announcing on X , rather than in a mainstream news or medical publication, that pregnant women and healthy children were being removed from the CDC’s list of who should receive recommended immunizations. This is despite abundantor, apparently, an acting director who meets the criteria for that position. So Kennedy has chosen to make those decisions unilaterally with the COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy issue.This confusion over decision-making is spilling over into uncertainty about insurance coverage.If they are not recommended by the ACIP and approved by the CDC director, the insurance coverage is mostly optional. . Unfortunately, no one is required to provide free vaccinations to uninsured people. While estimates vary and the euphemistically named “One Big Beautiful Bill” is not finalized, it is thought that 10-America’s Health Insurance Plans’ spokesperson, Tina Stow, says “Health plans continue to follow federal requirements related to coverage of ACIP-recommended vaccines and will continue to support broad access to critical preventive services, including immunizations.” Hopefully, insurers will recognize that it is less expensive to provide vaccinations than to pay for hospitalizations and complications. One hole now is COVID-19 vaccinations for healthy adults who care for or live with immunocompromised people and want to protect them by being vaccinated. Kennedy says no to vaccinating them. If AHIP doesn’t step up to fill this gap for those who are insured, or for others who lack coverage, this will create a two-tiered system of care, where only those who can afford vaccines will be able to get them, opines, MD, Professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, and an expert who is an ardent advocate for vaccinations. His more immediate concern is that “the Vaccine for Children’s program funds 35 million children, about 55% of the entire childhood population,” and these kids will be unprotected by Kennedy’s decision. Longer term, Offit has larger concerns about Kennedy’s leadership, believing that he deliberately gives misinformation and misleads people. “When Lynn Redwood presented at the ACIP meeting, she gave information that was patently incorrect. And you know, typically when someone presents at the ACIP, they have this thing called ETR evidenced recommendation. So before a vote, when you give a talk, you have to have your talk reviewed by subject matter experts. That didn’t happen here. She blatantly misrepresented certain data. The vote, which was five to one in favor of eliminating thimerosal containing influenza vaccines, was misinformed by information. Now I completely believe that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has an agenda. His agenda is an anti- vaccine agenda, and he will do whatever he can to further that then, even if it means misrepresenting, suppressing or manipulating data.” Offit continued, “I think his goal is ultimately to make vaccines unavailable, unaffordable and feared. I think he will consider himself as having saved children in this country if he can eliminate all vaccines.” Some experts are questioning whether Kennedy, who likely has the authority to make these decisions, can be sued because he lacks any expertise and is making decisions that are not science-based. A pregnant woman would have the most standing to sue, since all professional organizations view pregnancy as an indication for COVID-19 vaccination. Other groups, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, are making their own science-based vaccine recommendations, continuing what have been the standards, and hoping insurers will listen to them rather than the current ACIP. Shadow groups, like Michael Osterholm’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy’s While challenges to these policies work their way through court, there is little you can do other than to maintain your own vaccinations and to support science-based decision-makers.
Vaccination Vaccine ACIP Robert F. Kennedy Pregnant CDC Children Influenza Thimerosal
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