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RFK Jr.’s new attack on vaccines, briefly explained
The government gives great guidance on vaccination. Or at least it used to.
Welcome to The Logoff: Today, Dylan Scott and I are focusing on US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to fire every member of a federal vaccine advisory board, an attack on medical science that will have negative repercussions for public health.
What’s the latest? Kennedy fired every sitting member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Monday.
What does this board do? For more than 60 years, the panel has advised the federal government on vaccine policy, providing guidance — that officials have almost always followed — on which shots people should get and when.
What’s next? The vaccine advisory committee was first convened by the surgeon general in 1964, but it is not enshrined in federal law. That means Kennedy can change its membership or dissolve the panel entirely if he so desires. In firing the board’s members, Kennedy called it “little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”
What does this mean for us? Absent clear, science-based federal guidance on vaccines, it’ll be harder for us to know which shots health experts think we should be getting. And, more broadly, it’ll be harder for the population to achieve “herd immunity” — when enough people are vaccinated against a disease to prevent it from spreading widely.
What’s the big picture? Kennedy has a long history as a vaccine “skeptic,” promoting unfounded theories about the supposed health risks of vaccines responsible for saving millions of lives. As health secretary, he has made vaccine policy — and undermining the value of those vaccines — a centerpiece of his agenda.
And with that, it’s time to log off…
Life is short, as is our time with the people around us. But it’s easy, in the daily grind, to forget that and to focus instead on petty annoyances. That’s a bad way to live, so I really appreciated this Vox piece on the dangers of resentment, both to ourselves and our relationships. It’s a great reminder of what matters. Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
