RFK Jr. revives childhood vaccine safety working group

(Patria) - The US health agency is reviving a childhood vaccine safety working group after pressure from anti-vaccine activists to reinstate the panel, the BBC reported.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it is reinstating the Working Group on Safer Childhood Vaccines, which was disbanded in 1998, "to improve the safety, quality, and oversight of vaccines administered to American children".

The working group will make recommendations on childhood vaccines "that result in fewer and less severe adverse reactions than vaccines currently on the market," the agency said.

This is the latest move by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the childhood vaccination schedule.

The reinstatement of the panel comes after Children's Health Defense (CHD), an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, funded a lawsuit against his administration in May for failing to reinstate the working group.

The leader of CHD, who has spread misinformation about vaccines, praised the news about the panel.

"It has taken nearly fifty years for HHS to do this, but finally the secretary is respecting the law on this critical issue," wrote Executive Director Mary Holland. "We are grateful."

The Working Group on Safer Childhood Vaccines was established in 1986 through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act to provide compensation to children who had adverse reactions to certain vaccines.
The working group will include members from the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HHS said.
Since taking office, Kennedy has made a number of changes to the agency's vaccine policies.

In June, he removed all members of the federal advisory committee of independent experts that makes recommendations to the CDC on who receives immunizations and when. He replaced the panel with new members, many of whom are vaccine skeptics and have criticized COVID-19 vaccines.

Shortly after his new panel met, they announced they would review the health effects of the childhood vaccination schedule.

In May, Kennedy withdrew the CDC's recommendation for the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women and healthy children.