Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
At Fiery House Hearing, RFK Jr. Denies He Made False Promises Over Vaccines
The Hill: Kennedy Clashes With Democrats During House Hearing
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred with Democrats throughout a House budget hearing Thursday, with members accusing Kennedy of lying about changes to vaccine oversight, and Kennedy accusing lawmakers of being influenced by campaign contributions from Big Pharma. Kennedy appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to discuss the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal 2026. But much of the hearing saw Democrats question Kennedy about his tenure so far as HHS secretary, with several blasting his actions in office. (Choi, 6/24)
MedPage Today: 'You Lied': Physician Lawmaker Confronts RFK Jr. About ACIP Firings
Rep. Kim Schrier, MD (D-Wash.), tore into HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday, accusing him of lying and arguing that he broke a promise not to change the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). During an HHS budget hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Schrier, a pediatrician, asked Kennedy if he had ever treated measles, bacterial meningitis, pertussis, or whooping cough (Kennedy said he had not). (Firth, 6/24)
The Hill: Republican Chair Asks Kennedy For Retraction Over Vaccine Claims
A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing came to a brief halt Tuesday as the Republican chair asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to retract his accusations that a Democratic member’s stance on vaccines was influenced by campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies. Kennedy appeared before the subcommittee to defend the Trump administration’s budget request, which includes steep cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (Choi, 6/24)
KFF Health News: What RFK Jr. Isn’t Talking About: How To Make Vaccines Safer
Within an hour of receiving a covid vaccination in November 2020, Utah preschool teacher Brianne Dressen felt pins and needles through her arms and legs. In the medical odyssey that followed, she suffered double vision, chronic nausea, brain fog, and profound weakness. Once a rock climber, she became a couch potato. Although Dressen’s symptoms were rare in that season of hundreds of millions of covid vaccinations, they were common enough to draw the attention of a National Institutes of Health neuroscientist named Avindra Nath, who examined Dressen and more than 30 other people with a similar syndrome in 2021. (Allen, 6/25)
Revamped vaccine advisory panel is scheduled to meet today —
The New York Times: Kennedy’s Handpicked Vaccine Advisers Are Set To Meet For The First Time
A scientific meeting on vaccines, which will begin at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s campus in Atlanta on Wednesday, promises to be nothing like previous ones. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, fired all 17 members of the agency’s Advisory Council on Immunization Practices just two weeks ago. He replaced them with eight new members, at least half of whom have expressed some skepticism about vaccines. (Mandavilli, 6/25)
CNN: Presentation For CDC Advisers Appears To Cite Nonexistent Study To Support Claims About Risk Of Vaccine Preservative
A presentation slated to be shared at this week’s meeting of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that a study in animals suggested that use of the vaccine preservative thimerosal can have “long-term consequences in the brain.” But the study doesn’t appear to exist. (Tirrell, 6/24)
More about vaccines —
Stat: Global Progress On Childhood Vaccinations Is Slowing Down
Childhood vaccination coverage has made leaps since 1980. But progress has significantly slowed in the last two decades. That is according to a study published in The Lancet Tuesday, which found stagnation and wide variation in childhood vaccination rates since 2010. (Paulus, 6/24)
CIDRAP: Gates Foundation Pledges $1.6 Billion To Bolster Gavi's Childhood Vaccine Efforts
Amid dramatic cuts in government support for global childhood immunization efforts, the Gates Foundation said today that it will commit $1.6 billion over the next 5 years to support Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The announcement comes a day ahead of a summit in Belgium that aims to raise at least $9 billion in funding for Gavi, which helps provide and distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. Since its launch in 2000, Gavi has vaccinated more than 1.1 billion children across 78 countries, preventing nearly 19 million deaths from diseases like measles and pneumonia. (Dall, 6/24)
AP: West Virginia Woman Sues For Religious Exemption From School Vaccines Mandate
A West Virginia woman filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking a religious exemption from required school vaccinations for her young child. Miranda Guzman alleges that the state’s vaccine mandate violates a 2023 West Virginia law that stipulates the government would not be able to “substantially burden” someone’s constitutional right to freedom of religion unless doing so “is essential to further a compelling governmental interest.” Guzman sued the state and local boards of education and the county schools superintendent in Raleigh County Circuit Court. (Raby, 6/24)
