Kennedy Withdraws U.S. Funding Pledge to International Vaccine Agency; The New York Times, June 25, 2025

Stephanie Nolen , The New York Times; Kennedy Withdraws U.S. Funding Pledge to International Vaccine Agency

"The U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has moved to undermine public immunization programs in the United States, took his efforts global on Wednesday, accusing the leading international vaccine organization of having “ignored the science” in immunizing children around the world.

In confrontational remarks sent by video to global leaders who had gathered to support the organization, Gavi, Mr. Kennedy said the United States would withdraw its financial support for the group’s work purchasing vaccines for children in poor countries...

In the video, which was played in the last minutes of the summit, Mr. Kennedy accused Gavi’s leaders of being selective in their use of science to support vaccine choices, and said that the United States would not deliver on a $1.2 billion pledge made by the Biden administration until the organization changed its processes...

In a statement, Gavi’s leaders rejected the suggestion that its vaccine purchases were driven by anything other than the best available evidence.

“Any decision made by Gavi with regards to its vaccine portfolio is made in alignment with recommendations by the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), a group of independent experts that reviews all available data through a rigorous, transparent and independent process,” Gavi’s statement said. “This ensures Gavi investments are grounded in the best available science and public health priorities.”

Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon who led global health work in the Biden administration, called Mr. Kennedy’s remarks “stunning and calamitous.”"

See Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science in These Handy Charts; Scientific American, June 25, 2025

 JEN CHRISTIANSEN & MEGHAN BARTELS EDITED BY SARAH LEWIN FRASIER , Scientific American; See Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science in These Handy Charts

"Vaccines are a marvel of modern medicine: the carefully tested and regulated technologies teach people’s immune systems how to fight off potentially fatal infections, saving both lives and health care costs.

But for as long as vaccines have existed, people have opposed them, and in recent years the antivaccine movement has gained visibility and power. Now the Department of Health and Human Services is led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—an environmental lawyer with no medical training and a history of antivaccine activism. And these lifesaving medical interventions are coming under threat.

Access to COVID vaccines this fall is already expected to be limited to people aged 65 years or older and to those with underlying health conditions that make them more vulnerable to severe disease. And in June Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of a crucial vaccine oversight group, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which, in the past, has made independent, science-based recommendations on vaccine access for people in the U.S. The dismissals came just weeks before the panel’s next scheduled meeting; Kennedy appointed eight new members in advance of the meeting, which is still set to begin on June 25.

As a public resource, Scientific American has created graphics outlining the vaccines recommended by ACIP as of its final meeting in 2024.

Vaccine recommendations have always been in flux as new products have been developed and continuing research has suggested better practices: The COVID pandemic required brand-new vaccines for a novel virus, for example. And in the U.S., the stunning success of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine led to its recommendation for everyone aged 26 or younger, meanwhile the oral polio vaccine was discontinued in favor of the inactivated injected vaccine.

But traditionally, these decisions have been made by scientists based on solid research done within the confines of accepted ethical practices. These principles mean, for example, that a vaccine’s side effects are carefully monitored and evaluated against its immune benefit and that potential replacement vaccines are tested against their predecessors, not—as Kennedy has proposed—an inert placebo that would leave people vulnerable to an infection that doctors already have the tools to combat."

Many Older People Embrace Vaccines. Research Is Proving Them Right.; The New York Times, June 14, 2025

Paula Span, The New York Times ; Many Older People Embrace Vaccines. Research Is Proving Them Right.

[Kip Currier: Read my previous post. Then reflect on this New York Times article highlighting the benefits and promise of vaccine-related research. We as individuals and members of societies have so much to lose as a result of the anti-science policy positions and decisions of RFK, Jr. and this Trump administration.

Consider the documented benefits of vaccine research throughout prior decades that lead to revolutionary medical advances like vaccines for Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Pertussis, Hepatitis, Shingles, HPV, MPox, COVID, and more.]

[Excerpt]

"For older adults who express more confidence in vaccine safety than younger groups, the past few months have brought some welcome research. Studies have found important benefits from a newer vaccine and enhanced versions of older ones, and one vaccine may confer a major bonus that nobody had foreseen.

The new studies are coming at a fraught political moment. The nation’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has long disparaged certain vaccines, calling them unsafe and saying that the government officials who regulate them are compromised and corrupt.

This week, the secretary fired a panel of scientific advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, replacing them with some who have been skeptical of vaccines. But so far, Mr. Kennedy has not tried to curb access to the shots for older Americans.

The evidence that vaccines are beneficial remains overwhelming."

US experts fear all vaccines at risk as Trump officials target mRNA jabs; The Guardian, June 14, 2025

Melody Schreiber, The Guardian ; US experts fear all vaccines at risk as Trump officials target mRNA jabs

[Kip Currier: How tragic that so many will suffer preventable ailments and some will die needlessly because of vaccine misinformation and disinformation and conspiracy theories fueled by quack science.]

[Excerpt]

"As top US health officials turn against some mRNA vaccines, experts fear for the country’s preparedness for the next pandemic and worry that other vaccines will be targeted next.

Donald Trump’s administration recently canceled a $766m award to Moderna on the research and development of H5N1 bird flu vaccines, and officials have announced new restrictions and regulations for Covid mRNA vaccines – actions that signal a move away from the breakthrough technology.

These changes add to other vaccine-related shakeups at health agencies, including layoffs and resignations of top vaccine officials and the abrupt termination of HIV vaccine research.

On Monday, Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of health and human services, announced he was disbanding the independent advisory committee on vaccines for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“I think mRNA vaccines are particularly at risk, although I think all vaccines are at risk,” said Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

“I think that this administration will do everything it can to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared.”"

How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response to Covid-19; The Conversation, February 14, 2022

 Salam Alshareef; The Conversation ; How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response toCovid-19

"As of October 2021, only 0.7% of all manufactured vaccine doses had gone to low-income countries. Manufacturers had delivered 47 times as many doses to high-income countries as they had to low-income countries.

Since its inception, COVAX, the UN-backed initiative dedicated to promoting access to Covid vaccines, has struggled to obtain doses. It recently passed the 1 billion doses delivered – half way to its goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Indeed, AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have delivered between 0% and 39% of their already inadequate commitments to COVAX in 2021.

The Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy, meanwhile, estimates that while Asia and Europe will be able to fully vaccinate 80% of their populations by March 2022 and North America by May 2022, Africa will not reach 80% at current rates until April 2025."