HHS Hedges On Covid Vaccine Advice For Children, Pregnant Women
It's not clear if the recommendation for covid shots will be lifted entirely, or whether patients simply will be advised to consult with their doctors, The Wall Street Journal reports. Regardless, the change could mean insurers become less likely to cover the shots. Plus, the MAHA movement's latest push.
The Wall Street Journal:
RFK Jr’s HHS To Stop Recommending Routine Covid Vaccines For Children, Pregnant Women
The Trump administration is planning to drop recommendations that pregnant women, teenagers and children get Covid-19 vaccines as a matter of routine, according to people familiar with the matter. The Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is expected to remove the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for those groups around the same time it launches a new framework for approving vaccines, the people said. (Essley Whyte, 5/15)
The Washington Post:
FDA To Issue New Vaccine Approval Guidance
The head of the Food and Drug Administration said the agency will soon unveil a new framework detailing what companies must do to seek approval of vaccines, a move that comes as the Trump administration has introduced uncertainty into the annual process for green-lighting updated coronavirus shots traditionally offered in the fall. ... FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said Thursday during a conference of the Food and Drug Law Institute, a nonprofit organization. “We want to create a framework for vaccine makers that they can use so they have a predictable FDA where they don’t have to worry how is this going to be received.” (Roubein, 5/15)
CIDRAP:
WHO Advisers Say Current Strains OK For COVID Vaccine Production
The World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 vaccine composition, after meeting earlier this month, today released its recommendations for updated vaccines, which say the current monovalent JN.1 or KP.2 strains are still appropriate, but monovalent LP.8.1 is a suitable alternative. Over the last 2 years, after examining the latest data on virus changes and response to current vaccines, the group has been weighing in on strain recommendations twice a year, once in the spring and once in December. (Schnirring, 5/15)
In other news about vaccines —
Stat:
Federal Health Officials Join Anti-Vaccine Activists At MAHA Event
The Make America Healthy Again movement is coalescing around a new effort to turn its goals into federal policy. The Trump administration is listening. The MAHA Institute, a policy center launched Thursday, is pushing to change the American health and food systems: from rethinking vaccine availability and review to removing processed foods from schools, to using keto diets to treat mental illnesses and reforming the regulatory systems intended to protect the public. (Payne, 5/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Allegations About Timing Of Pfizer Covid Vaccine Passed To House Panel
Lawmakers are investigating whether Pfizer waited to share results of the Covid vaccine in 2020 until after that year’s presidential election, based on new allegations that a former Pfizer scientist has said he was part of an effort to “deliberately slow down” the testing, according to a new letter from the House Judiciary Committee. The House panel is seeking information from Pfizer and from the scientist, Philip Dormitzer, after learning he allegedly told colleagues in 2024 at a subsequent job he was worried he would face an investigation of his role in the vaccine’s release and asked to be relocated to Canada. (Linskey and Dawsey, 5/15)
More on 'MAHA' and RFK Jr. —
Bloomberg:
FDA To Expand Review Of Chemical Preservatives Used In Food
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to expand its review of food additives beyond artificial dyes, targeting preservatives and chemicals used as whitening agents and dough conditioners. The agency will issue an updated list of chemicals that it will evaluate, including the common preservatives butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT, and butylated hydroxyanisol, or BHA. Azodicarbonamide, or ADA, a whitening agent used in cereal flour and as a dough conditioner, will also be on the list, the agency said in a statement. (Cohrs Zhang, 5/15)
Bloomberg:
How Will RFK Jr. And Casey Means' MAHA Agenda Affect Food Inflation?
From canola oil to colorful dyes, the US food industry is girding for a shift away from the ingredients that made American diets among the cheapest in the world. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is embracing policies and ideas that curb ultra-processed foods and discourage the use of seed oils, colorings, high-fructose corn syrup and pesticides, all of which he blames for the overall poor health of Americans. (Peng, Shanker, and de Sousa, 5/15)
Politico:
RFK Jr. Says HHS Is Already Using AI
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promising to “do more with less” — with the help of artificial intelligence. “The AI revolution has arrived, and we are already using these new technologies to manage health care data more efficiently and securely,” he told the House Appropriations Committee at Wednesday’s hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget. (Reader, 5/15)
