RFK Jr. Has Wide Discretion to Choose Evidence to Support Vaccine Decisions, DOJ Argues
Source: Children’s Health Defense
RFK Jr. Has Wide Discretion to Choose Evidence to Support Vaccine Decisions, DOJ Argues
How far can health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. go in remaking public health policy in his image? Could he, say, call on Americans to maximize their exposure to measles in a bid to reach herd immunity?
The Department of Justice seems to think so. In defending the health secretary’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and to the federal vaccine advisory committee in federal court on Wednesday, government lawyers said that Kennedy and other health officials have broad discretion to issue such guidance — and to choose the kinds of evidence to consider and the experts to consult.
Kennedy’s New US Autism Panel to Examine Potential Causes
A U.S. autism advisory board remade by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to include vaccine skeptics aims to steer federal research spending toward investigating causes of the condition, as well as other issues like co-occurring medical disorders, according to some new panel members.
Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has suggested the inoculations cause autism, contrary to scientific evidence, reset the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee in January with 21 new public members. More than a third of the new committee members have also promoted the debunked link between vaccines and autism. Some autism experts, including former committee members, have said the new members could undermine federal autism research.
This week, some former members created their own alternative advisory board, the latest in a series of similar efforts by public health experts concerned about Kennedy’s overhaul of federal vaccine policy and what they see as misinformation coming from agencies he oversees. No rigorous studies have found links between autism and vaccines or medications. Autism experts attribute rising rates of the condition largely to more inclusive diagnosis criteria.
The committee, due to first meet on March 19, will provide non-binding guidance to Kennedy on federal autism research priorities, including recommendations on allocating hundreds of millions of dollars in research spending. Kennedy has promised President Donald Trump he will identify the cause of autism, which most researchers suggest is linked in part to genetics and exposure in utero to pollutants or harmful contaminants. Many of Kennedy’s supporters in the Make America Healthy Again movement — some of whom were named to the committee — also believe vaccines can cause autism and advocate for fewer childhood vaccinations.
FDA Drug Chief Aims to Hire Friend Pushing for Controversial SSRI Warning
The FDA’s top drug regulator, Tracy Beth Hoeg, MD, PhD, is working to hire a researcher and friend who wants the agency to add new warnings to antidepressants about unproven pregnancy risks, the Associated Press has learned.
Adam Urato, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and critic of antidepressant safety, is pressing the FDA to add a boxed warning to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the drugs most commonly prescribed for depression. Urato’s petition says the medications can cause pregnancy complications, including miscarriages and fetal brain abnormalities that may lead to autism and other disorders in children.
That proposed labeling change has become a top priority for Hoeg, who regularly consults with Urato and is working to bring him on as a full-time FDA employee, according to people familiar with the situation. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential FDA matters.
RFK Jr. Pushes Medical Schools to Teach More About Nutrition
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new push Thursday to get medical schools to teach more about nutrition. Kennedy has spent months pressing schools to increase nutrition education, threatening funding cuts for those that refuse and promising public recognition for those that comply.
He has long argued that doctors are undertrained in nutrition, leading to a focus on treating chronic diseases with medication rather than preventing them with diet, an approach that some experts say is oversimplified.
As of Thursday morning, 53 medical schools have voluntarily agreed to take part in the new initiative, according to senior Department of Health and Human Services officials. The officials declined to identify the schools and told reporters on a call Wednesday to expect statements from the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Medical Colleges, which creates the MCAT exam for medical school admission.
‘Medical Freedom’ From Vaccines Shackled for the 2026 Session
As the “medical freedom” bill that would make it easier for parents to let their children go unvaccinated heads to the Senate floor, House Speaker Daniel Perez said Wednesday that his chamber won’t consider similar legislation (HB 917).
The proclamation brings to an end, for now, the 2026 legislative debate on the legislation, a priority for Gov. Ron DeSantis in his eighth — and final — regular legislative session.
“That’s a bill that wasn’t heard in the House. It wasn’t heard in the committee process and, obviously, we function different than the Senate. A bill that hasn’t moved in the House is not gonna be brought up at this time,” Perez said during a media availability.
The DeSantis administration announced last fall it wanted to eliminate every vaccine mandate from Florida statutes.
RFK Jr. Puts Dunkin’ on Notice; Massachusetts Governor Says ‘Come and Take It’
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said Dunkin’ and other companies will need to prove that their ingredients are safe, prompting Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Wednesday to reply back, “Come and take it.”
Kennedy, while at a rally at Brazos Hall last week in Austin, Texas, said, “We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that show that it’s OK for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it.’” He added, as the audience applauded, “I don’t think they’re going to be able to do it.
“The reforms aim to ensure American foods follow the highest safety and nutritional standards globally,” MAHA Action, Kennedy’s nonprofit health advocacy group, said in a statement explaining Kennedy’s announcement. Healey responded to Kennedy’s remark about the Canton, Mass.-based chain in a post on the social platform X. She shared an image of a flag resembling the 1835 “Come and Take It” flag first used at the start of the Texas Revolution. Instead of a cannon, however, Healey’s flag replaces the cannon with a silhouetted Dunkin’ cup.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on FDA Official Vinay Prasad: ‘We Have a Problem With the Leadership of CBER’
One of the most powerful voices in the biopharma industry, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D., has weighed in with sharp criticism of the FDA’s Vinay Prasad, M.D., and his performance as the chief of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which regulates vaccines in the U.S.
“We have a problem with the leadership of CBER,” Bourla said Monday at the TD Cowen healthcare conference. “I think the current director is not following the recommendations of his staff.”
The rebuke came in response to a question about Pfizer’s interactions with the FDA on vaccines. The company is one of the world’s most prolific manufacturers of vaccines, recording sales of more than $11 billion for its shots last year. Bourla added that “differentiation” must be made when speaking about the leadership of the CBER and the “career scientists” Pfizer has interacted with for decades.
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