Washington D.C. – It was already clear that medical experts outside the Trump-RFK Jr. CDC had no input on the administration’s decision this week to substantially and immediately cut down the number of recommended vaccines for American children to 11, down from 17 – but it turns out to be so much worse. Stunning new reporting from the Washington Post reveals that even the vaccine experts within the CDC “were blindsided” by the decision “to unilaterally overhaul the childhood immunization schedule … a shift that leading public health experts and medical organizations warned could weaken protections against preventable deadly diseases.”
According to the Post: The “overhaul contradicted guidance from career scientists who prepared a presentation outlining how the U.S. vaccine policy is not an international outlier… That process to alter vaccine recommendations, they and several former health officials said, did not include extensive consultation with the agency’s subject matter experts or the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel that is usually done.”
“It’s beyond alarming that the Trump-RFK Jr. CDC would rush forward with this radical child vaccine schedule rollback without the advice and consent from actual experts in the field, including the CDC’s own vaccine advisory panel,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care. “Guided by nothing more than ideology and ego and with no advance notice, Secretary Kennedy allowed millions of American children to be put at risk of preventable diseases that can cause serious harm or even death. Secretary Kennedy and Donald Trump will have no one to blame but themselves when child exposures to dangerous diseases like meningitis and hepatitis A surge. The nation is already suffering a deadly outbreak of measles after Kennedy used his national platform to spread debunked lies about its proven safe and effective vaccine – but apparently, the Secretary thinks the needless spread of preventable diseases has not been on a grand enough scale. The sooner ego and conspiracy-driven Kennedy is forced out of the HHS, the more lives will be saved.”
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