OPINION
will happen if the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services are not compliant with the law.
In the bad news category, the U. S. Preventive Task Force, as I write, is rumored to be on the chopping block by Secretary Kennedy, who has already fired the entire ACIP membership and replaced it with hand-picked acolytes. This Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendations bolster health insurance coverage of necessary vaccines, and set which vaccines are free of charge to millions of low-income children. The Committee has already voted three times to use only flu vaccines that do not contain thimerosal – despite the proven fact that thimerosal has not, does not and will not cause autism, and the fact that there are zero vaccines on the pediatric schedule that even contain thimerosal. The CDC has previously published an extensive review of thimerosal and vaccines and found zero evidence of any neurotoxicity. Although I believe that the Secretary is playing to his audience, even the formal consideration of this assertion of harm may give credence to its baseless claims. The Committee is“ studying” the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, which have saved millions of lives to this point. The Secretary has already removed the recommendation for its use in healthy children and healthy pregnant women. I am hoping that the doctors and ARNPs who care for them will thus assiduously document their patients’ tiniest, minutest change from“ healthy” to justify their use. Sneezed, did you? A little extra throat-clearing? Possibly you blew your nose yesterday? Quick! Get your Covid shot today – because Secretary Kennedy, as of 8 / 4 / 25, has cancelled $ 500 million in mRNA vaccine grants and contracts. mRNA vaccines, of course, can be made within months and can be quickly updated when the target organism mutates.
RFK Jr. admitted to a national interviewer that all his own children are vaccinated – at the insistence of his wife. His cancellation of mRNA vaccines will end very badly, with far more people at risk of serious to fatal cases of Covid. This will take us back to the dark days of 2020, except that nobody will be wearing masks, so it could be exponentially worse.
His callous disregard for rigorously researched scientific facts, and the health of all American children and pregnant women, shows selective blindness and an underlying elitism that should not be tolerated in a guardian of the public health.
References:
1
Angus Chen and Veronica Paulus, STAT news, 8 / 4 / 25.
2
JAMA Research Letter, Elizabeth J Schafer, MPH; Hyuna Sung, PhD; Jessica Star, MA, MPH et al, JAMA 8 / 4 / 25.
Dr. Barry is an internist and Associate Professor of Medicine( Gratis Faculty) at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, currently retired and mulling her next moves.
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OPINION September 2025 33