Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Several Covid Vax Skeptics Might Join ACIP; RFK Jr. Testifies At Senate Today
Politico: Kennedy Prepares To Name New Vaccine Panel Members
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering appointing seven members to the new CDC independent vaccine advisory panel — many of whom share his skepticism of Covid-19 vaccines or the pharmaceutical industry — according to an internal list seen by POLITICO and confirmed by two people with knowledge of the list. The list of names — which was first made public by Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston — includes at least three people who have questioned the safety of messenger RNA vaccines against Covid. (Gardner and Gardner, 9/3)
NBC News: Senators Prepare To Grill RFK Jr. Amid Turmoil At The CDC And Vaccine Changes
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. heads to Capitol Hill for testimony Thursday, a week after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez was fired and a series of vaccine-related decisions drew criticism from lawmakers, including Senate health committee chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. Monarez’s firing led several senior CDC officials to resign and fueled a staff protest outside the agency’s Atlanta headquarters last week. In a scathing editorial in The New York Times on Monday, nine former CDC directors called Kennedy “dangerous” and said his actions are “unlike anything our country has ever experienced.” (Lovelace Jr., Kamisar, Kapur and Thorp V, 9/3)
Stat: After Ousting CDC’s Director, RFK Jr. Mirrors Her Ideas To Reform The Agency
In the days after health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed out the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he suggested sweeping changes were needed to reform the agency — and that the ouster was part of his plan. (Payne, 9/3)
How the FDA has intervened —
The New York Times: F.D.A. Official Overruled Scientists On Wide Access To Covid Shots
Memos released in recent days by the Food and Drug Administration show that the agency’s vaccine chief overruled staff scientists who favored widespread access to Covid shots, setting off a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers, state officials and doctors. Agency staff members had concluded that the F.D.A. should allow a wide range of age groups to receive the vaccines, citing high hospitalization rates among young children with Covid and saying that the virus’s evolution is “complex and remains unpredictable.” (Jewett, 9/3)
The Hill: New COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters Won't Get Rubber Stamp, FDA Commissioner Says
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary says the agency will not overlook anything in developing new guidelines for updated COVID-19 vaccines. “A lot of people report vaccine injury,” Makary told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Tuesday evening. “A lot of people report complications, including children who have died from the vaccine. So, we can’t just be blind.” (Taub, 9/3)
The Washington Post: FDA Questions Safety Of Receiving Covid, Flu Vaccines Together
The Food and Drug Administration is scrutinizing the common practice of giving coronavirus and flu shots together, signaling a reversal of years of federal guidance and a broader crackdown on administering multiple vaccines at the same time. Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, recently announced that his team will require new clinical trials before allowing pharmaceutical companies to claim that coadministering multiple respiratory virus vaccines is safe and effective — a plan that was dismissed by outside experts as unnecessary and potentially counterproductive. (Diamond, Roubein and Sun, 9/3)
How Americans feel about vaccines and RFK Jr. —
The Hill: Poll: Kennedy's Health Advice Distrusted By Many
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the face of the federal government’s health care policies, but a new poll suggests few Americans trust his advice when it comes to their own medical decisions. An Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday found that 26 percent of respondents said that they at least “somewhat” trust Kennedy’s medical advice, compared to 48 percent who said that they distrust him. (Crisp, 9/3)
Bloomberg: Trump Pollster Briefed Republicans On Support For Vaccines
A Trump pollster briefed Republican congressional staff on Wednesday about polling that showed broad support for childhood vaccines even among voters who supported the president, according to people familiar with the discussions. Voters’ opinions were divided, however, on Covid-19 shots. The presentation comes ahead of a hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday where lawmakers may question him about vaccine policy. (Cohrs Zhang, 9/4)
On RFK Jr.'s approach to autism —
The Hill: Public Health Coalition: Don’t Trust RFK Jr On Autism
A national coalition of health professionals and scientists is warning Americans not to believe any new alleged causes for autism spectrum disorder announced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the agency prepares to reveal “interventions” contributing to the rising rates of the condition. The group, called Defend Public Health, urges the public to confirm whatever new information is released from HHS with other sources before accepting it as fact, especially if it related to a possible link between vaccines and autism. (O’Connell-Domenech, 9/3)
Undark: How RFK Jr. Shut Down Research On Environmental Causes Of Autism
Erin McCanlies was listening to the radio one morning in April when she heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promising to find the cause of autism by September. The secretary of Health and Human Services said he believed an environmental toxin was responsible for the dramatic increase in the condition and vowed to gather “the most credible scientists from all over the world” to solve the mystery. Nothing like that has ever been done before, he told an interviewer. McCanlies was stunned. The work had been done. “That’s exactly what I’ve been doing!” she said to her husband, Fred. (Lerner, 9/2)
