US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has approved changes to rules that govern an expert group that advises the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its vaccine recommendations.
The move, part of Kennedy’s latest effort to reshape the country’s vaccine policy, follows a March court order that temporarily blocked the work of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and put some of its previous moves on hold.
The committee has also been directed to consider the “cumulative effects” of giving all recommended childhood vaccines and considering ingredients in vaccines, such as aluminum, which is added to vaccines in tiny amounts to boost the body’s immune response to them. Some vaccine skeptics believe that aluminum in vaccines may be tied to neurodevelopment problems in children, such as autism, although large studies investigating the issue have found no link.
Related on the SLP
Additionally, ACIP is now specifically tasked with considering “novel vaccine platforms such as mRNA vaccines” – the technology behind two of the Covid-19 vaccines available in the US – and reviewing the vaccine schedules used by other countries.
