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Health Care

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The Big Story

Anxieties converge over newly remade CDC advisory panel

Health and Health Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s remade vaccine advisory panel kicked off its two-day meeting Wednesday despite calls to delay the proceedings, including by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the HELP Committee chairman who cast the deciding vote to confirm Kennedy.

The meeting was marked by drama even before it started.

Kennedy gutted the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) less than two weeks ago and appointed eight new members just days later. Normally, panelists are vetted for months, if not years before joining. On Tuesday, one of the eight panelists resigned, leaving just seven remaining members to vote.

At the outset, the panel’s new chair Martin Kulldorff made clear the new priorities.

Kulldorff, formerly a professor of medicine at Harvard, said people should be free to share their skepticism of vaccines and “no questions should be off limits.”

He criticized “some media outlets” for labeling panel members as anti-vaccine, which he said “further feeds the flames of vaccine hesitancy.”

Wednesday’s portion of the meeting was marred by technical glitches and ran long, but the topics were relatively uncontroversial.

But panelists on Thursday will hear a presentation by Lyn Redwood, a former leader of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded and chaired by Kennedy before he became HHS Secretary. Redwood will present recommendations on a version of the flu vaccine that contains thimerosal, a preservative long targeted by anti-vaccine activists.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also does not yet have a director to sign off on the panel’s recommendations. The Trump administration’s nominee to lead the agency, Susan Monarez, was testifying in Cassidy’s committee for her confirmation hearing.

Monarez said she supports vaccines and does not see a causal link between vaccines and autism.

“I think vaccines save lives. I think that we need to continue to support the promotion of utilization of vaccines,” Monarez said.

During the hearing, Cassidy lamented ACIP’s “rushed” meeting with a diminished panel.

“Given that there is no confirmed CDC director, along with an ACIP panel which has very few members, many of whom lack broad vaccine and … immunological expertise, there are concerns about the rushed nature of this process,” Cassidy said.

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Trump’s CDC pick treads carefully in Senate debut

Susan Monarez, a longtime federal health official nominated by President Trump to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), faced senators in a confirmation hearing Wednesday, providing a first glimpse at her personal views and any signs of daylight with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While Monarez said “vaccines save lives” and said there was no evidence of links between …

Full Story

Senate Republicans battle over rural hospital relief fund to offset Medicaid cuts

Senate Republicans including Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) say a new proposal to create a $15 billion relief fund for rural hospitals is not adequate to make up for tens of billions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding cuts included in the Senate megabill to enact President Trump’s agenda. Collins told reporters Wednesday that the $15 billion relief fund floated by the Senate Finance Committee is likely not the final offer from …

Full Story

RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel to review shots for children

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s newly remade federal vaccine advisory panel will examine the cumulative effect of the childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule, the panel’s chair said Wednesday. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will also weigh recommendations for vaccines that have long been on the market, including those for measles and hepatitis B. Martin Kulldorff …

Full Story

On Our Radar

Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices continues its meeting Thursday

In Other News

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

Agricultural contaminants in drinking water linked to higher preterm birth rates: Study

Exposure to a common agricultural contaminant in drinking water, even in small doses, may be linked to increased risks of preterm birth, a new study has found. The pollutant, called nitrate, is also associated with low birth weight in infants whose mothers consumed affected water during pregnancy, according to the study, published on Wednesday in PLOS Water. While nitrate is a naturally occurring compound that is necessary …

Full Story

Around the Nation

Local and state headlines on health care:

California’s much touted IVF law may be delayed until 2026, leaving many in the lurch (KFF Health News)
Louisiana sues CVS over text messages against pharmacy benefit manager bill (the Louisiana Illuminator)
Heat wave linked to rise in opioid overdoses in Chicago over the weekend, health experts say (Chicago Sun Times)

What We’re Reading

Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

Millions of children at risk from stalling global vaccinations, study says (The Washington Post)
Disposable e-cigarettes are more toxic than traditional cigarettes, researchers say (the Independent)
Kennedy paves way for flood of wellness companies in white coats (Stat)

What Others are Reading

Most read stories on The Hill right now:

Questions around success of Iran strikes spark fears on Capitol Hill

Questions swirling around the success of U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites are raising fears on Capitol Hill that more could be coming. President … Read more

Trump calls for firing of CNN reporter over Iran nuclear damage report

President Trump on Wednesday called for the firing of CNN correspondent Natasha Bertrand, who reported on air an internal U.S. intelligence assessment … Read more