{"id":25861,"date":"2025-04-13T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=25861"},"modified":"2025-04-13T09:26:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T09:26:46","slug":"the-many-ways-kennedy-is-already-undermining-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=25861","title":{"rendered":"The Many Ways Kennedy Is Already Undermining Vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">The health secretary has chipped away at the idea that immunizing children against measles and other diseases is a public health good.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During his Senate confirmation hearings to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself as a supporter of vaccines. But in office, he and the agencies he leads have taken far-reaching, sometimes subtle steps to undermine confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety, public health experts say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The National Institutes of Health <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/taggs.hhs.gov\/Content\/Data\/HHS_Grants_Terminated.pdf\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">halted funding<\/a> for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find ways to overcome it. It also <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/26\/health\/future-pandemics-vaccines-funding.html\" title>canceled programs<\/a> intended to discover new vaccines to prevent future pandemics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shelved an advertising campaign for the flu shot. Mr. Kennedy has said inaccurately that the scientists who advise the C.D.C. on vaccines have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/video\/6368793267112\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201csevere, severe conflicts of interest\u201d<\/a> in promoting the products and cannot be trusted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Health and Human Services Department<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/26\/health\/trump-state-health-grants-cuts.html\" title>cut billions of dollars<\/a> to state health agencies, including funds needed to modernize state programs for childhood immunization. Mr. Kennedy said in a televised interview on Wednesday that he was unaware of this widely reported development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Dropzone-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Food and Drug Administration <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/26\/us\/politics\/fda-flu-vaccine.html\" title>canceled an open meeting<\/a> on flu vaccines with scientific advisers, later holding it behind closed doors. A <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/04\/02\/top-trump-fda-official-brenner-hits-pause-on-novavax-vaccine-decision-00266623\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">top official<\/a> paused the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/fda-misses-deadline-decision-novavaxs-covid-19-vaccine-wsj-reports-2025-04-02\/\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">agency\u2019s review<\/a> of Novavax\u2019s Covid vaccine. In a televised interview last week, Mr. Kennedy said falsely that similarly created vaccines don\u2019t work against respiratory viruses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some scientists said they saw a pattern: an effort to erode support for routine vaccination, and for the scientists who have long held it up as a public health goal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-kbghgg\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171quhb\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F04%2F13%2Fhealth%2Fkennedy-vaccines-confidence-access.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F04%2F13%2Fhealth%2Fkennedy-vaccines-confidence-access.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F04%2F13%2Fhealth%2Fkennedy-vaccines-confidence-access.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F04%2F13%2Fhealth%2Fkennedy-vaccines-confidence-access.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The health secretary has chipped away at the idea that immunizing children against measles and other diseases is a public health good.During his Senate confirmation hearings to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself as a supporter of vaccines. But in office, he and the agencies he leads have taken far-reaching, sometimes subtle steps to undermine confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety, public health experts say.The National Institutes of Health halted funding for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find ways to overcome it. It also canceled programs intended to discover new vaccines to prevent future pandemics.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shelved an advertising campaign for the flu shot. Mr. Kennedy has said inaccurately that the scientists who advise the C.D.C. on vaccines have \u201csevere, severe conflicts of interest\u201d in promoting the products and cannot be trusted.The Health and Human Services Department cut billions of dollars to state health agencies, including funds needed to modernize state programs for childhood immunization. Mr. Kennedy said in a televised interview on Wednesday that he was unaware of this widely reported development.The Food and Drug Administration canceled an open meeting on flu vaccines with scientific advisers, later holding it behind closed doors. A top official paused the agency\u2019s review of Novavax\u2019s Covid vaccine. In a televised interview last week, Mr. Kennedy said falsely that similarly created vaccines don\u2019t work against respiratory viruses.Some scientists said they saw a pattern: an effort to erode support for routine vaccination, and for the scientists who have long held it up as a public health goal.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25863,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25861"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25864,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25861\/revisions\/25864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}