Kennedy’s Take on Vaccine Science Fractures Cohesive National Public Health Strategies

The Secretary of Health and Social Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had a few months. He dismissed the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, served the agency’s vaccine advisory committee and included among the new members of the group who marry anti-vaccine opinions.

The upheavals of leadership, which, according to him, will restore confidence in federal health agencies, have shaken the confidence that many states have in the CDC and have led to the fracturing of a national coherent immunization policy which is endured for three decades.

States and medical societies that have long worked in concert with the CDC break with federal recommendations, saying that they no longer have confidence in the midst of Kennedy’s turmoil and criticism of vaccines. About seven months after the confirmation of the appointment of Kennedy, they rush to write or publish their own vaccine recommendations, while new groups are formed to issue advice and advice on vaccination.

The operation of the new system is still being discharged. The recommendations of states vaccines, medical societies and other groups are likely to diverge, creating duel advice and requirements. New York schoolchildren can still generally need vaccinations, for example, while others in places like Florida may not need many vaccines.

There are also potential financial ramifications, because historically, private insurers, Medicaid and Medicare have generally not covered the vaccines recommended by the federal government. If the CDC and its advisory group, which started a two -day meeting on September 18 in Atlanta, stop recommending certain vaccines, hundreds of millions of people could end up paying for blows that cost them nothing before. Some states are already taking measures to prevent this from happening, which means that people live could determine if they will face costs.

“You see a proliferation of recommendations, and everyone’s recommendations are different from the CDC,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist from the University of Minnesota who launched an ad hoc group that provides vaccination advice. “States and medical societies base their recommendations on science. CDC recommendations are magic, smoke and mirrors. ”

Kennedy defended changes to the CDC and the overhaul of the vaccine committee if necessary, claiming that previous members of the Advisory Committee had conflicts of interest and that the agency management had botched its pandemic response.

The CDC is “the most corrupted agency in HHS, and perhaps the government,” Kennedy said at a hearing of the Senate committee on September 4. Susan Monarerez, director of the CDC ousted, testified on September 17 during another Senate heard how Kennedy told him to pre -carry recommendations for vaccinations of the Advisory Committee or to be dismissed.

Kennedy said the HHS also planned to investigate vaccine injury which, according to him, are not in -depth or investigating. The CDC is investigating the injuries reported by providers or patients, but Kennedy said he wanted to redesign the entire program. The Food and Drug Administration already examines cases of deceased children after vaccination COVVI-19.

HHS did not return an email asking for comments.

States, medical societies, medical companies and other groups reflect an increasing lack of confidence in federal leadership, say the public health leaders, and the rupture of the CDC occurs at a rapid clip.

Democratic governors of California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington – constitute the West Coast Health Alliance – are coordinated to develop vaccination recommendations that will not necessarily follow those of the CDC. Governors said in a joint statement that the CDC’s reshuffle had “altered the agency’s capacity to prepare the nation for the respiratory virus season and other public health challenges” and this week published directives in 2025-26 for vaccination against viruses such as cocvid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus.

A group of northeast states explores a similar collaboration.

“The worst thing that could happen is that we have 50 different recommendations for the covid vaccine. This will destroy public health,” said Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner, Robbie Goldstein, who was involved in the effort. He also spoke with the leaders of the West Coast Alliance. “I really hope that we meet in increasingly important collaboratives with the same recommendations or very similar recommendations,” he told a group of journalists this month.

And medical societies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics publish hairstyle vaccination recommendations that diverge for the first time from CDC advice.

Some states enter the split to ensure access to the fire. Massachusetts obliges insurers to cover the vaccines recommended by the State Health Department rather than paying only for those suggested by the CDC, which makes it the first state to guarantee such continuous coverage. AHIP, a commercial group representing insurers, said on September 16 that health plans will cover vaccinations, including the formulations updated from COVID vaccines and influenza, which were recommended by the CDC panel on September 1 without cost sharing until the end of 2026.

Pennsylvania authorizes pharmacists to give hairstyle vaccines even if they are not recommended by the Federal Agency. Instead, they can follow the recommendations of the pediatric academy and other medical groups.

Florida, on the other hand, plans to remove the requirements so that schoolchildren obtain vaccinations against chickenpox, meningitis, hepatitis B and certain other diseases. State legislators should take measures to end the mandates of all vaccines.

Joseph Ladapo, the state general surgeon, said at a press conference on September 3 that any vaccination requirement was wrong and “sank with disdain and slavery”.

Some doctors criticize the decision as a dangerous step back.

“This is a terrifying decision that puts our children’s lives in danger,” said Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC, in a statement sent by e-mail.

The first school vaccine mandate was deployed in the 1850s in the Massachusetts, for smallpox. While all states have vaccination requirements for schoolchildren, vaccination rates for kindergarten students have decreased while cases of measles practitioners vaccine and whooping increased in 2024 and 2025.

Rochelle Walensky, the first director of the Biden administration CDC, warned the “polarization” of state -based approaches. “It’s as if your head is in the oven and your feet are in the freezer and, on average, we are 95% vaccination. This does not work in measles – each place must be 95% vaccination. ” It referred to the proportion of a population which must be vaccinated to provide immunity from the herd.

Kennedy’s actions pushed the vaccines at the center of the front of the stage and made it stuff for comedy. The Marsh Family, a British musical group, published a parody on September 7 of the “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” by Paul Simon, with the refrain, “we will see measles and polio in the courtyard”.

HBO’s actor Bill Maher said the CDC could be known as “illness” during a recent episode of his show. And Stephen Colbert used his monologue on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to weigh on the advisory group on the reminied vaccine, calling its new members the “Cream of Cuckoo”.

President Donald Trump defended Kennedy, telling journalists “he hears very well”, even as Trump said on September 5 that “you have such incredible vaccines”. Trump has repeatedly expressed the pride of Operation Warp Speed, a government initiative during the previous administration of Trump which quickly developed coastal vaccines. But he also promoted a discredited theory connecting vaccines and autism.

The White House did not respond to a request for comments.

The Trump administration has already reduced the recommendations for the vaccine, despite the new security risks with the shots, although medical companies continue to recommend them to most people. The Gulf is expected to expand as the agency’s advisory group examines the opportunity to modify its directives on a number of pediatric vaccines.

Other groups are also trying to provide vaccination and public health advice, which are partly motivated by concerns that Kennedy and other federal health leaders will make political decisions and not based on science. Kennedy promoted allegations that aluminum, used in many vaccines, is linked to allergies, despite a lack of evidence for complaints. A Danish study, in fact, revealed that aluminum was not linked to chronic diseases, but Kennedy said that the study’s additional data said it had caused damage. The review that published the study defended the results.

Current and former employees of the CDC and HHS, as well as public health academics and retired health officials, have trained the National Public Health Coalth, a non -profit organization to approve recommendations and provide advice on political issues. They plan to join the state and premises health services.

“A real advantage of the National Public Health Coalition is that we are made up of current and former people of the CDC and HHS, people who have in -depth knowledge of government programs for public health and necessary improvements,” said Abigail Tighe, executive director of the group.

Another new group is the grandparents of vaccines, who present themselves as an effort led by volunteers to raise awareness. And the vaccine integrity project was launched in April by the University of Minnesota University Center to examine the evidence of medical societies on the safety and efficiency of vaccines.

“We will continue to help wherever we can resolve disinformation,” said Osterholm, the head of the center.