Lawd almighty, y’all. I have a bad feeling about our fall vaccines. I’m not sure we’ll even be able to GET them. He’s ripped apart the vaccine group. This is not good. As a matter of fact, this is Bad (caps intentional). Shall we see why? Oh, good. I thought you might agree. From CNN:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, will gather this week for its second regular meeting of the year, but this won’t be a typical meeting. Two weeks ago, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a history of vaccine skepticism, upended the independent advisory panel and its planned agenda. All 17 of the previous members were dismissed, and eight new ones were added. Presentation topics central to anti-vaccine activists’ arguments were placed on the schedule, despite studies and data about safety. Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, one of the eight new members, Dr. Michael Ross, withdrew during the required financial holdings review, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said.
See what I mean? This panel isn’t going to make recommendations. It’s going to blow vaccines away. So much for Robert F Kennedy, Jr’s promise of being balanced and NOT inflicting everyone with anti-vax views. A whole lot of people count on those reports for the months following each meeting. And remember, he took his grandkids swimming in a polluted stream after having a fit about fluoride in drinking water.
The firings and new members, *all* appointed by him, mean the country risks going into “vaccine chaos” with an inconsistency of vaccine recommendations from different sources. That’s a problem. I’m wondering if we’ll even be able to *get* reputable vaccines. These are things that people *need*, so any possible problems of what the vaccine is for (aka Covid) will be lessened. Or, we won’t be able to get them at all. That’s worse.
“This week’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is likely to mark its end – for now – as a vaccine advisory body,” said the staff and advisers of the Vaccine Integrity Project, a group that’s seeking to preserve access to vaccines in the event that the government throttles it, in a viewpoint posted Monday. It’s a startling shift for a group that has been meeting for more than 60 years, and whose recommendations are so trusted that they’re often written into state laws. ACIP has played a pivotal role in how vaccines are used in the United States. Like an orchestra conductor, it keeps the vaccine delivery system playing well together: directing doctors and other providers on how to use vaccines, telling insurance companies when to cover vaccines, giving states guidance on which vaccines to purchase, helping cities and counties decide which vaccines are needed for school enrollment and cueing the federal government on which vaccines to purchase for low-income children.
This just gets better and better. I don’t think many places are going to accept the findings of the new (anti-vaxx) panel. That’s a shame, and I wonder if we’re going to recover it. How much is was lost when he fired the entire panel? Will the new one even be satisfactory?
“Those recommendations are made in harmony with the input of a lot of consultants from professional groups so that we all agree then on what the recommendations are,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville who has been participating in ACIP meetings for 40 years, both as a voting member and as a liaison member.
“Then, those recommendations basically become the standard of practice,” Schaffner said. “So that makes the delivery of vaccines very smoothly functioning. Everybody knows who ought to get the vaccines and then when they get them.”
Yup. Not happening. Damn. Thanks for sticking with me!
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I decided to get the original COVID vaccines because Tucker Carlson said NOT to.
I will probably get the booster because “Bobby Brainworm” says it’s bad.
I have gotten all Covid shots and have never had a problem with them. Go for it! 🙂 🙂