RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Panel Eyes Landmark Rollback to Childhood Immunization Norms
A radical shift to the childhood vaccine schedule is suddenly on the verge of becoming federal policy.
Federal vaccine advisers handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are preparing to vote on ending universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth—a bedrock recommendation of modern pediatrics—and to launch an expansive probe into whether childhood vaccines contribute to allergies and autoimmune conditions. Under new chair Kirk Milhoan, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices appears ready to rewrite long-held medical doctrine, and fast.
Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist and longtime critic of covid vaccination, says the panel will consider delaying the hepatitis B birth dose, despite decades of data showing a 99 percent drop in infections among kids and teens after the shot became standard. That’s not a small tweak; that’s reopening a door medicine intentionally bolted shut in 1991. Critics warn this move isn’t about science—it’s about ideology dressed up as inquiry.
The committee is also gearing up for something even more sweeping: a full review of the childhood vaccine schedule and the cumulative impact of its ingredients. As Milhoan put it, “We’re looking at what may be causing some of the long-term changes we’re seeing in population data in children…such as asthma and eczema and other autoimmune diseases.” Aluminum adjuvants—a staple in many vaccines for more than 70 years—are likely to dominate the conversation, despite the FDA’s longstanding evidence of their safety and the fact that everyday food and water expose kids to far more aluminum.
Public health leaders are sounding alarms, accusing the reshaped ACIP of distorting evidence to justify changes that could destabilize pediatric care. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics didn’t mince words: the new panel’s schedule revisions “should not be trusted.” And inside the federal health system, turmoil is piling up—firings, resignations, and even a CDC website rewrite now aligning with Kennedy’s disproven autism claims.
For now, only the hepatitis B vote is formally on the agenda. But the message is clear: this committee is no longer tinkering with the system—it’s remodeling it, blueprint unseen.
Source: The Washington Post
Editor: Bold move to claim “not enough attention is being paid to risk” when a century of vaccine science exists precisely because people paid relentless attention to risk. But sure—let’s pretend decades of epidemiology are just vibes and see what happens.