A Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointee to the CDC's advisory panel on vaccines -- who recently was dubbed "a COVID Myth Superspreader" for his history of COVID misinformation -- led the panel to a series of votes on Friday that likely will make COVID vaccines harder to get for Americans and potentially to spur the spread of unproven anti-vax claims of supposed vaccine harm.

 

At the end of the two-day meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Retsef Levi, a management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management who previously claimed COVID vaccines have been responsible for an "unprecedented level of harm," persuaded the committee composed entirely of recent Kennedy appointees to adopt three policy statements involving COVID vaccines that hadn't been publicly aired until shortly before they were presented for votes -- which broke with longstanding ACIP panel practice.

 

The first item, passed 12-0, had the ACIP panel drop a prior recommendation that most adults age 18 and up receive the COVID vaccine and replaced it with a weaker statement that COVID vaccination would not be specifically recommended by ACIP, but instead that vaccination for those age 6 months and up should be based on "shared clinical decision making" between a doctor or pharmacist and the recipient, which is the same approach the CDC already had for children ages 6 months to 17 years.

 

The second item, passed 11-1, called on the CDC to expand its so-called "informed consent" practices for the COVID vaccine and consider adding language to the CDC's Vaccine information Statement for the COVID vaccine based on Levi's presentation. That included a Levi-presented list of a half dozen largely unproven claims regarding the supposed failings and supposed harms of the COVID vaccine. But the panel conceded it would be up to the CDC administration itself to work out just how the information statement might be revised.

 

The third item, passed 12-0, recommended that health care providers, in talking with patients prior to vaccination, should discuss the potential risks of COVID disease, but also include a discussion of the potential risks and benefits of vaccination "and related uncertainties, especially those outlined in the vaccine information statement [see item 2 above], as part of informed consent."

 

The fourth proposal put forward by Levi, and the only one that failed by a 6-6 vote, would have had the panel recommend [ACIP has no authority to require] that states and local jurisdictions "should require a prescription for the administration of a COVID-19 vaccination." The panel balked at giving that advice, noting that some 90% of current COVID vaccinations are done in pharmacies instead of doctors' offices, with one member noting the proposed change would have "become a big barrier to the administration of this vaccine."

 

All of the ACIP panels actions are only recommendations that now go to the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, a political appointee deputy to Kennedy in his role as head of the U.S. government's Health and Human Services agency that includes the CDC. The CDC job became open last month when Kennedy fired Susan Monarez, the U.S. Senate confirmed CDC director, after less than a month on the job, supposedly after she refused to endorse Kennedy's various move to restrict vaccine access in the U.S.

 

Kennedy, a notorious anti-vaxer and COVID misinformation spreader who previously headed the main anti-vaccine nonprofit in the U.S. before President Donald Trump chose him to head HHS, earlier this year also fired the entire 17-member ACIP panel composed of long-vetted medical and health professionals, and lately replaced them with a hastily vetted group of replacements that includes anti-vaxers, vaccine skeptics and others who opposed various COVID-era public health policies, including several with ties to Kennedy himself.

 

Assuming it's accepted by the acting CDC director, the ACIP's new position about making COVID vaccines available only through "shared clinical decision making" is likely to create more doubt and confusion in the U.S., because different states have different rules about what pharmacists can do without a doctor's involvement, and whether pharmacists will provide COVID vaccines to patients in the absence of a formal ACIP policy specifically recommending the vaccine.

 

Developments like those above already are spurring blocs of mostly Democrat-led states to form their own public health alliances that are rejecting the federal government's vaccine policies, and setting their own more expansive policies for their own state residents. That already has occurred with California and three other western states, and now more recently has spurred a similar move by New York and a group of other northeast U.S. states.

 

Background on Levi:

 

 

Background on Kennedy and his recent actions as HHS secretary, including:

 

"Since 2005, Kennedy has promoted vaccine misinformation^[1] and public-health conspiracy theories,^[2] including the chemtrail conspiracy theory,^[3] HIV/AIDS denialism,^[4] and the scientifically disproved claim of a causal link between vaccines and autism.^[5] He has drawn criticism for fueling vaccine hesitancy amid a social climate that gave rise to the deadly measles outbreaks in Samoa and Tonga.^[6]

Kennedy is the founder and former chairman^[7] of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group and proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.

 

 

 

As reported from other news agencies, where what can be posted and directly quoted is limited by the forum's fair use quoting policy, which limits the extent of detail that can be posted:

 

RFK Jr.’s vaccine panel weakens Covid shot recommendations, calling it an individual decision

"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine panel on Friday weakened Covid shot recommendations in the U.S., advising that all Americans receive one based on consultations with a health-care provider. 

 

The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, recommended that people 6 months and up receive vaccines based on so-called “shared clinical decision-making,” which refers to a decision process between a health-care provider and a patient or their guardian. The group also voted to emphasize that the Covid vaccine is beneficial for those at high risk of severe illness from the disease.

 

The guidance breaks from previous years, where the committee recommended that all Americans ages 6 months and up receive an updated Covid shot. 

 

The vote is no surprise, as Kennedy appointed several vocal critics of mRNA Covid shots to the panel after ousting all previous members in June. ACIP sets recommendations on who should receive certain shots and which vaccines insurers must cover at no cost. 

 

(more)

 

CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/19/rfk-jr-vaccine-panel-covid-shot-recommendations.html

 

 

 

Not sure why it matters so much after the fact.

 

There won't be another repeat of the pandemic anyway. 

 

 

 

Vaccine panel advances more restrictive approach to covid shots

 

Vaccine advisers on ACIP considered who should receive updated coronavirus vaccines, a highly anticipated decision that influences access to shots.

 

"ATLANTA — A federal vaccine advisory panel unanimously voted Friday on a more restrictive approach to coronavirus vaccines by recommending that everyone consult a clinician before getting a shot.

 

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eliminated its past recommendations for all Americans ages six months and older to receive annual shots. Instead, it recommends the vaccines under “shared clinical decision-making,” meaning people should first consult a medical professional. The full practical implications are unclear, but it could create complications for Americans trying to get vaccinated at a pharmacy depending on the rules of their states. A proposal to encourage states and localities to explicitly require prescriptions for coronavirus vaccines narrowly failed.

 

The Food and Drug Administration in August narrowed approval of updated coronavirus vaccines to those 65 and older and people with underlying conditions that elevates their risk for severe disease.

...

Representatives of medical associations and other health officials have blasted the advisers, all appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as peddling misleading and false claims. “The number of false statements made at this ACIP meeting are practically too numerous to keep track of,” said Peter Marks, who served as the nation’s top vaccine regulator before he was ousted in March. “There were so many that they contaminated the several true statements made; terribly confusing reality.”

 

(more)

 

Washington Post

https://archive.ph/vjuRK

 

 

 

CDC vaccine panel votes to change COVID-19 vaccine guidance

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"The questions they were to vote on were not publicly disclosed until the very end of the meeting. 

 

ACIP member Retsef Levi, professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, led the panel’s discussion on the COVID-19 vaccines.

 

Levi, a known COVID-19 vaccine opponent and skeptic, was selected to lead the CDC’s COVID-19 working group in August. During the pandemic, Levi called for all COVID-19 programs to be stopped immediately, claiming there was no proof of efficacy and that the vaccines were behind the deaths of children and young people. 

...

During the committee’s discussion on Friday, ACIP members spent time speculating on whether the COVID-19 vaccine rewrote human DNA after being administered, whether it could cause lung cancer; of it could cause birth defects. [which were among the unproven and unsubstantiated anti-vax claims Levi made in his written presentation to the panel.]

 

(more)

 

The Hill

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5512906-covid-19-vaccine-guidance-update/

 

Amid the ACIP panel's latest recommendations, there are two primary issues involving COVID vaccine access in the U.S.:

 

The first is who can and will provide the vaccines to those desiring one in any particular state:

 

As CNN noted:

 

"The vote by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices carries additional implications for vaccine access since some states adhere closely to the committee’s recommendations. The result may be a patchwork of vaccine access from state to state, depending in part on on who is able to administer vaccines."

 

And the second is, if a person can get the vaccine somehow, is any insurance they have, private or government type, going to cover the cost:

 

As CNN reported:

 

"In a statement, a US Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said the vote on shared clinical decision-making “provides for immunization coverage through all payment mechanisms including entitlement programs such as Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, and Medicare, as well as insurance plans through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace.”

 

AHIP, formerly America’s Health Insurance Plans, said its members — which provide coverage to more than 200 million Americans — will continue to cover all immunizations that ACIP had recommended as of September 1 [which means prior to the recent ACIP panel policy changes] at no cost to patients through the end of 2026. This includes the updated Covid-19 and influenza vaccines."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/health/cdc-acip-hepatitis-mmrv-covid-vaccine

 

 

 

Kennedy’s Vaccine Committee Raises New Hurdles to Covid Shots

 

"In a meeting filled with sudden reversals and last-minute twists, the federal vaccine committee appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered votes on Friday that furthered his mission to limit access to Covid vaccines.

...

Most of the committee members have publicly opposed Covid vaccines or vaccine mandates, so their decision to limit access to the shots was not entirely surprising. But the language and the specifics of the restrictions alarmed some public health experts.

 

“There will be preventable deaths that result from these decisions,” said Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, who oversaw the C.D.C.’s work group on the Covid vaccine before she resigned in June.  “Having people without vaccine and clinical expertise having the power to harm so much of the public is unbearable,” she said, referring to the panelists.

...

Some medical organizations sharply criticized the committee’s bypassing the methods the A.C.I.P. typically follows, with detailed discussions on the feasibility and acceptability of the decisions, the cost-benefit ratio and equity concerns.

 

(more)

 

New York Times

https://archive.ph/yDwnt

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

...

Developments like those above already are spurring blocs of mostly Democrat-led states to form their own public health alliances that are rejecting the federal government's vaccine policies, and setting their own more expansive policies for their own state residents. That already has occurred with California and three other western states, and now more recently has spurred a similar move by New York and a group of other northeast U.S. states.

Considering the disappointingly underwhelming outcome of the ACIP meeting, which will have little to no effect on present vaccine regulations, it looks that changes have to be done at individual State level. 

And this will result in a further polarization: 

- Nanny states like California and New York will take a hardliner-position by expanding/promoting/mandating the current vax-schedule and restrict exemptions

- Liberty states like Florida will abolish all vax-mandates and make them all 'voluntary'.  

This will lead to a further exodus from the 'Gov Knows Best and You Better Comply or Else' states towards those states that defend individual freedom of choice (a process that already started during the Covid-disaster).  

The U.S. CDC, under an acting director appointed by anti-vax HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he fired the former CDC director one month into the job, has enacted the COVID vaccine recommendations passed last month by Kennedy's vaccines advisory committee, which also was reconstituted after Kennedy likewise fired the entire prior membership of that panel.

 

What to know about getting an updated COVID-19 vaccine

October 7, 2025

 

"The CDC finally acted yesterday and says more people are eligible for one of the boosters than the Food and Drug Administration initially allowed when the FDA approved the reformulated shots in August. So anyone aged 6 months and older should now be eligible again. But the CDC did create one new hoop that people have to jump through to get a shot. Everyone now has to have a conversation first with a health care professional about the risks and benefits.

...

For a lot of people, it may not be a big deal. The CDC defines health care professional pretty broadly to include not only doctors but also nurse practitioners and pharmacists. So an extra stop at a doctor's office may not be necessary. And the CDC's action makes clear that any pharmacist anywhere will be able to give the shots. CVS, the nation's biggest pharmacy chain, says people won't have to fill out any forms or even have to have a conversation with a pharmacist unless they have questions.

 

But some pharmacists and doctors may still require a conversation, or they may be hesitant to give the shots to anyone who isn't at high risk because of all the mixed messages and changing rules. And some doctors just may not stock the shots this year. So don't be surprised if you still encounter problems.

 

I talked about this with Dr. Michelle Fiscus. She's the chief medical officer for the Association of Immunization Managers. MICHELLE FISCUS: It's not as easy as if we just had a blanket universal recommendation that anybody who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine. But there aren't huge restrictions like the need to meet eligibility criteria to get a vaccine either. So it's not as restrictive as it could have been, but it still puts barriers in the way."

 

(more)

 

https://www.wunc.org/2025-10-07/what-to-know-about-getting-an-updated-covid-19-vaccine

 

 

CDC pulls support for Covid shot, backing Kennedy’s advisory panel

Oct 6 2025

 

"The U.S. CDC on Monday pulled broad support for Covid-19 shots, saying they should be administered through shared decision-making with a healthcare provider in accordance with recommendations from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine advisory panel.

 

The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation maintains access for the shot through health insurance.

 

The recommendations come at a turbulent time for the CDC, which recently saw the ouster of its former Director Susan Monarez after resisting changes to vaccine policy advanced Kennedy. Monarez said she was told to rubber-stamp the committee’s recommendations without reviewing the scientific evidence.

 

Kennedy, a long-time anti-vaccine crusader before taking on the nation’s top health post, has sought to rewrite the country’s immunization policies through a series of far-reaching actions. They included dismantling the national vaccine advisory board of outside experts and reconstituting it with hand-picked members, many of whom shared his opposition to the widely used Covid vaccines."

 

(more)

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/06/cdc-pulls-broad-support-for-covid-shot.html