Well, that didn’t take long. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly braking director of the Department of Health and Human Services, has already indicated that he can try to change the country’s vaccination schedule for children.
RFK Jr. made the comments during His speech In a ceremony held on Tuesday, welcoming him as the new secretary of the HHS. He announced that he would form a commission to study the children’s vaccine schedule as a possible factor for the increase in chronic diseases in Americans, among other subjects allegedly “taboo.” Kennedy before seemed to promise Republican legislators that it would not change the recommendations of current vaccines established by the centers for disease control and prevention. To be clear, RFK Jr. did not explicitly say that the vaccination schedule would change, but when establishing this commission, the foundations for that possibility are laying.
Last Thursday, Kennedy received the blessing of the Senate for his HHS nomination in a mostly vote of the game of the game (Kentucky senator, Mitch McConnell, was the only republican “no”); Later that day, officially swore as the new leader of the Federal Agency that supervises the CDC, the Food and Medicines Administration and other agencies that protect the country’s public health. But RFK’s ascension was initially far from being safe.
The former environmental lawyer endured scoring questions about his long history of supporting the movement against vaccination during the Senate Committee hearings about his nomination. And there were several Republican senators who expressed concern about their aptitude for the position given their position on vaccines. The most prominent of these critics was Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, former doctor and member of the United States Senate Finance Committee.
However, a week before the biggest vote in the Senate, Cassidy changed my mind about RFK Jr. and pronounced the fundamental vote of the tiebreaker to ensure the support of the Kennedy nomination finance committee. In his speech on the floor, Cassidy said he was influenced by Kennedy and Trump’s guarantees that he would protect the benefits for public health from vaccination. At one point, Cassidy explicitly said that Kennedy “would maintain the recommendations of the Control and Prevention Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on unchanged immunization practices.”
Cassidy, meanwhile, said on social networks mail On Wednesday you don’t see RFK’s announcement as to return to your promise.
The commitments I received from RFK Jr. and the administration never prevented him from conducting solid scientific investigation. I am sure that any good reputation review will further confirm the established science of safety and efficacy of the children’s vaccine schedule. The outbreak in the west …
– American senator Bill Cassidy, MD (@senbillcassidy) February 19, 2025
The Immunization Practices Advisory Committee, or ACIP, is a panel of external experts gathered by the CDC. Their recommendations, formally adopted by CDCs, strongly influence which vaccines are routinely provided to the public. For example, states often demand that children have to receive vaccines universally recommended by the ACIP, such as measles, papers and rubella vaccine, before being able to enter the public school. Insurance plans are also Typically required To cover vaccines recommended by ACIP without any shared cost.
The newest members of the ACIP were consecrated Just before Trump assumed the position, and it is likely that these members and the ACIP as a whole resist a direct attempt to have their recommendations improperly influenced by RFK Jr. or the Trump administration, at least for now. But it is still possible that these new members are not allowed to join the ACIP, and/or that existing members are forced to leave space for the most in line with the thought of RFK Jr. in any way, despite His promise to Senator Cassidy, RFK Jr. now seems to be ready to at least try to undermine, or potentially interrupt, permanent vaccine policies in the country.
The same day as Kennedy’s sworn, the Trump administration issued An executive order that establishes the “Make America Healthy Again” commission, a reference to one of Kennedy’s slogans deployed during his previous failed presidential career. The order demands that the federal government take measures to reduce the rates of chronic diseases of the Americans and end the chronic child disease completely. According to the umbrella of this executive order, Kennedy promised on Tuesday that the commission will investigate the possible “previously taboo or insufficient” factors for the increase in chronic diseases.
Along with the calendar of the children’s vaccine, Kennedy also raised electromagnetic radiation, certain pesticides, ultraprocessed foods, antidepressant and microplastic drugs such as other possible guilty for chronic diseases, and adds that nothing would be “out of place.”
Studies have linked some of these factors with name to possible health problems, such as chemicals to dislike endocrine such as PFA. But agencies like the FDA have already recognized The possible damage of the PFA and similar substances, and scientists are working to better understand these damages. Other factors such as electromagnetic radiation have also been studied, although without much to show. The high frequency electromagnetic fields, the type we use for X -rays, are well known for being dangerous with too much exposure. But studies have generally not supported a link between non -ionizing EMFs, the most common type broadcast by our cell phones and other appliances, and negative health effects, including cancer.
And to be clear, there is no solid evidence that our current vaccination schedules are damaging us or obtaining Too many vaccines at the same time It is causing chronic diseases in children (a common canard of the vaccination movement).
Throughout his speech, Kennedy argued that his commission would do everything possible to carefully study these factors. “Any belief or suspicion that has expressed in the past, I am willing to submit them all to the scrutiny of impartial science,” Kennedy said.
Unfortunately, any superficial look at Kennedy’s history would question that guarantee. For at least 20 years, RFK Jr. has repeatedly misrepresented The evidence on the safety of vaccines and other important health problems, even after their work has been separated by real scientists (and Even retracted once). Now that he has been given a blank check to influence the country’s public health agenda to his liking, it is difficult to see how that stubbornness of reality will decrease to any degree.