The Doctors Building a Public-Health Universe Outside the Government
A growing contingent of doctors and policymakers say they have grown wary of federal health guidance since longtime vaccine skeptic Kennedy became Health and Human Services Secretary—and they are forming a parallel public-health universe outside the U.S. government.
Professional medical societies are releasing guidelines that depart from the government’s stance. Governors and state health officials are changing rules to ensure access to vaccines within their borders.
At the nucleus of the effort is an initiative that [Dr. Daniel] Crawford [past president of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners ] mentioned as a new trusted expert: the Vaccine Integrity Project, a group of public-health veterans and researchers who have banded together to sift through and analyze the latest studies on vaccines.
wsj.com
The article describes the focus on vaccines and now allegedly acetaminophen (Tylenol) as causes of autism as the bloody flag for RFK, Jr. and his fellow travelers. We’ve described repeatedly that autism is not a post-natal condition. The most likely cause for the rise in autism is changes in criteria, with the result that far more children are classified as autistic than before, and mothers giving birth at older ages.
We then get to the battle in progress:
The resistance has been building since Trump tapped Kennedy and said he told him to “go wild on health.” In May, Kennedy posted a video on X announcing the removal of a Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for pregnant women and healthy children….
In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP—the panel that met last week—and replaced them with a team that includes vaccine skeptics. Distrust reached a boiling point at the end of August, when the Trump administration ousted the CDC’s newly sworn-in director, Susan Monarez, following clashes over vaccine policy with Kennedy.
Last week the new ACIP team—including several members appointed just a few days earlier—dialed back the government’s strong recommendation of the Covid vaccine, advising instead “individual decision-making” with a physician, nurse or pharmacist. The advisers also removed the government’s recommendation of a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, or chickenpox, for children.
The varicella vaccine is a live virus vaccine which can lead to stronger reactions, including more susceptibility to near-term infection (live virus vaccines, however, also confer a longer-term general immune system boost). And in general, the US is way too gung ho on administering multiple vaccines at once for the convenience of medical practitioners. So spacing them out is not a crazy idea, but no foundation was laid for this proposal.
And to the consequences, of inconsistent responses across insurers, and resistance:
Private insurance plans normally use ACIP recommendations to guide their coverage. Some insurers have signaled they would continue to cover vaccines that were recommended before the changes last week.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals protested the vote outcomes and the new ACIP’s departure from traditional procedures for weighing evidence based on a labor-intensive evaluation of the latest research.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America reacted in real-time. “Scientific evidence continues to strongly support broad COVID-19 vaccination,” the group posted on X. It also posted: “.@SecKennedy presents a clear and present danger to the American people and their families.”….
Early this month, several states broke with the CDC on vaccine policy. Some formed coalitions to come up with their own public-health guidance.
“We have to step up as governors to do this because the federal government is not a trusted partner right now,” said Gov. Tina Kotek of Oregon, one of four states in a newly formed group they call the West Coast Health Alliance. The alliance issued guidelines for the Covid, RSV and flu vaccines for the fall season a day before the ACIP met.
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