Amid all the other news lately, it might have been easy to miss Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest big move as health secretary: the firing and replacement of the committee of experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines. In a guest essay for Times Opinion, the immunologist Dr. Michael Mina called it a “Code Red” moment for U.S. vaccine policy. The recommendations of the C.D.C.’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices help determine the vaccines doctors provide to patients and whether insurers will cover them. Kennedy’s abrupt removal of all 17 members is “a warning of what might be coming,” Mina wrote, explaining that “a reconstituted committee will be in a position to more directly rearrange, alter or dismantle the national vaccine schedule as it sees fit.” Since we published Mina’s essay last week, Kennedy announced eight new committee members, including people who have spoken critically about vaccines. There are still more spots to fill, and the committee is scheduled to meet soon to discuss immunization for Covid-19, RSV, Lyme disease, human papillomavirus and more. If the recommendation for a vaccine is withdrawn, patients who still opt to receive it could be left footing the bill. As Mina outlines in his essay, the committee shake-up isn’t the only change. The administration has also canceled contracts for the development of new vaccines and revised Covid vaccine guidance. Mina has closely studied vaccine-preventable diseases and also regularly questions consensus, so I was curious about his perspective on which changes may be less concerning and which are keeping him up at night. “When once-reliable guidance is muddied by conspiracy thinking, the risks to vaccines and the health of Americans increase,” he wrote. “This is a precarious moment for vaccine policy — the damage may not be obvious until it’s too late.” Here’s what we’re focusing on today:
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