HHS Has A Strategy For Reinstalling RFK Jr.’s Preferred Vaccine Advisers
After a judge last month invalidated the makeup and recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a backer of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. floated the idea of broadening the range of expertise outlined in the committee's charter, a change that could allow Kennedy to argue that his appointed panelists are now qualified.
The Health Department is quietly laying the groundwork to revive a vaccine advisory committee whose membership and decisions were frozen last month by a federal judge. A document renewing the committee鈥檚 charter for the next two years, and scheduled to be published on Monday in the Federal Register, enshrines changes that would allow Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to nominate members of his choice. (Mandavilli, 4/3)
Related news on flu, covid, and measles 鈥
US flu activity keeps trending downward, according to the latest FluView report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Flu cases are declining across most of the country, the CDC said, with influenza A viruses waning and influenza B viruses showing varying levels of activity. That trend follows the typical seasonal flu virus patterns. The proportion of tests that were positive for flu fell to 9.8%, down from 11.5% the previous week, and the proportion of outpatient visits for flu remained below the national baseline for the second straight week, falling from 2.8% to 2.6%. (Dall, 4/3)
Six months since the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hosted a high-profile Long COVID event, the agency鈥檚 only public action tackling the disease is a new website, published earlier this month. While most of the site shares basic information about Long COVID, it also hints at other upcoming government efforts 鈥 first announced with a similar website and roundtable event for Lyme disease in December 鈥 including a 鈥渢ech sprint鈥 to develop new technologies and resources for people with the disease. (Ladyzhets, 3/31)
Influenza vaccination coverage among US health care personnel (HCP) during the 2024鈥25 respiratory virus season remained similar to coverage during the 2023鈥24 season, while uptake of the COVID vaccine, though significantly improved from the prior year, remained markedly lower, according to a聽report published yesterday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 (CDC鈥檚) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Bergeson, 4/3)
Infants born to mothers who received mRNA COVID vaccination during pregnancy had a 36% lower risk of COVID鈥搑elated hospital contact in their first 6 months of life, according to a study published in Pediatrics. The protective effect did not extend to other types of infections. (Bergeson, 4/3)
US measles cases climbed by almost 100 in the past week, reaching 1,671 infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly update. The vast majority of the 96 new cases are in Utah. The CDC said all but 10 of the 2026 cases are from 32 states and New York City, with the rest travel-related. The number of affected states grew this week by one. Of all confirmed cases, 94% are associated with one of 17 outbreaks, with one of those outbreaks (three or more related cases) being new.聽(Wappes, 4/3)
