In the 18 days since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, his department has postponed or canceled two major vaccine advisory committee meetings, he\u2019s pledged to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule and he downplayed the seriousness of a measles outbreak that\u2019s resulted in the first death from the disease in this country in a decade. <\/p>\n
Citing those moves and others \u2013 including an opinion piece from Kennedy on the measles response published by Fox News Sunday \u2013 Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, sent a letter demanding the secretary clarify his \u201cintentions regarding vaccine policy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kennedy wrote in his op-ed about the measles outbreak that \u201call parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the MMR [measles, mumps, rubella] vaccine,\u201d adding that \u201cthe decision to vaccinate is a personal one. <\/p>\n
\u201cVaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,\u201d Kennedy wrote. <\/p>\n
It was a stronger statement on vaccination than Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaccine advocate, had personally made so far, but stopped short of explicitly recommending vaccination amid the deadly outbreak \u2014 something his predecessors at HHS did during previous measles emergencies. <\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s statement on measles vaccination also appeared in the piece after a paragraph emphasizing treatment, such as vitamin A, for people who are sick. <\/p>\n
Warren, in her letter, noted Kennedy\u2019s op-ed \u201cfailed to include a strong call for vaccination,\u201d instead claiming that \u201cgood nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious diseases.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDo you believe good nutrition is a better defense against measles than the MMR vaccine?\u201d Warren wrote. <\/p>\n
The senator, a member of the Senate finance committee, one of two that grilled Kennedy over his history of anti-vaccine views and financial interest in vaccine litigation during his confirmation hearings, also asked the secretary whether he would \u201cchange course and tell American parents to vaccinate their children to protect against measles.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYes or no?\u201d Warren wrote. <\/p>\n
The senator\u2019s questions also covered Kennedy\u2019s plans for the vaccine advisory committees to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Food and Drug Administration, whose meetings were postponed or canceled, as well as his intentions to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule and reevaluation of a government contract with vaccine maker Moderna to develop a potential vaccine against bird flu. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe mission of the agency you lead is \u2018to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans,\u2019 \u201d Warren wrote. \u201cYou are already failing to do so \u2013 and you must reverse course immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n
She asked for a response from Kennedy by March 10. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In the 18 days since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, his department has postponed or canceled two major vaccine advisory committee meetings, he\u2019s pledged to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule and he downplayed the seriousness of a measles outbreak that\u2019s resulted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":456,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}