It's Code Red for vaccines

How to make sense of all the changes in vaccine policy in the U.S.

- Michael Mina

The number of changes to vaccine policy in the United States in recent weeks is dizzying—and we've just hit Code Red.

The federal government has sown confusion by changing recommendations for Covid-19 vaccines, ending contracts for mRNA technology research and firing the entire congressionally authorized panel that guides the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine decisions.

Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health, is a long-time vaccine conspirator. Though he most likely couldn't unilaterally revoke vaccine licenses or rewrite the children's vaccination schedule, there has been concern that he will spur an insidious unraveling of vaccine infrastructure, starting with his destruction on June 9 of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

With so much happening, it can be difficult to know what's truly concerning and what changes are probably fine—or even worthwhile. As an expert in vaccines and public health, I'm looking at the shifting landscape like this:

WHAT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT

1. The firing of the ACIP members: The ousting of all 17 members is a warning of what might be coming. The committee has served for decades as the CDC's independent scientific body on immunization. Removing its entire membership in one day, under the guise of restoring "public trust," destroys the firewall between science and politics. (Mr. Kennedy appointed on June 11 a new advisory group that included several vaccine critics).