When President Bill Clinton worked with a two -party conference for a federal program to ensure vaccines for poor children, they agreed that the authority to buy footage of drug makers should rest with the Minister of Health. The authors of the draft law did not consider that the very voice critic of childhood vaccines will appear as a candidate for this role.
This critic, Robert F. Kennedy Junior comes before the Senate to confirm hearings this week. If confirmed, it will have the ability to reduce contracts or even cut contracts with vaccine makers for more than half of the nation’s children below 8 billion dollars Children’s program vaccines.
Program Thanks With national vaccination rates raised, approximately 38 million children with low -income and working -class children such as polio, measles, pert and jujdar cough.
Mr. Kennedy said that he will not take vaccines away from anyone, but he has a long history of interrogating the safety of the vaccine. The remote power that the vaccine policy will face is increasingly disturbing to public health experts, researchers and legislators from both sides.
Some architects of the program are trying to convince members of the Senate to oppose his candidacy.
“I think it poses a threat to children’s health,” Donna Shalla, Minister of Health, told Mr. Clinton and a former Democratic conference member in an interview. She said that she spoke to Republican Senators who expressed his dissatisfaction with Mr. Kennedy, but they would not mention them.
The assertion sessions for Mr. Kennedy will start on Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee, and will continue on Thursday before the Senate Health, Education and Pensions Committee. Senior sessions of Senators from both sides will give an opportunity to ask Mr. Kennedy about how he involved the large health agencies in the country and vaccine policies.
Legislators have already started asking questions about the authority that the Minister of Health will obtain on vaccines. in The round table on the policy policy Senator Lisa Planet Rochester, Democrat Dilayer asked: “What is protection and what are the ways that someone can come last week, last week, Senator Lisa Blanc Rothschest, Democrat Dillauer:” What is protection and what are the ways that can come It has someone and the effect of reducing the use of vaccines? “
Experts told members of the Senate that the authority included the exercise of power on vaccine approvals and the use of a prominent position that may raise fears or incorrect things.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, Katie Miller, refused to respond directly to a question about Mr. Kennedy’s view of the children’s program.
For decades, Mr. Kennedy planted doubts about the safety of vaccines and their components. In 2021, it is They submitted a petition to federal officials To cancel the license of all Corona virus vaccines at a time when thousands of Americans were dying every week of Covid.
For years, Mr. Kennedy has worked on lawsuits that claim to be a Merck vaccine against HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer, caused injuries. The previously released records of confirmation sessions also show that it intends Keep his financial share In this litigation in the vaccine if confirmed.
He made his legislators on both sides uncomfortable. Many Republican Senators, including Mitch McConnell from Kentucky and Lisa Morkovsky from Alaska and Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, suggested that they are on the fence on how to vote.
Mr. McConnell, one of the survivors of polio and former Republican leader, He said Anyone who participates in “efforts to undermine the confidence of the public in installed treatments” will have difficulty in obtaining the confirmation of the Senate. Mr. Cassidy, doctor and chairman of the Assistance Committee, He did not say How to vote. Mrs. Morkovsky CNN said She had fears, adding, “The vaccines are important.”
the Childpoint program It was created in response to the alienation outbreak, which improps the incompatible children who cannot afford the costs of vaccines. It now protects from 19 diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The law that established the program grants the authority of the Minister of Health for contracts to buy millions of vaccine doses, including Power Enter, modify or reject agreements. Pharmaceutical makers have handed over 71.5 billion doses to about 37,000 medical service providers throughout the United States and its territories since the beginning of the program.
Federal officials “control the entire means of presentation and distribution,” according to Sarah Rosnabum, a professor in health and policy law at George Washington University, who asked the Clinton administration to build the program.
“Who was thinking was a problem in giving the secretary this kind of strength?” I asked.
Some defenders of the program are concerned that talking about the vaccine program may put it at risk if Mr. Kennedy takes responsibility.
“People feel very tense to talk about these things loudly because they do not want to happen,” said Richard Hughes IV, a lawyer who represents vaccine makers and lecturer at George Washington University. “But these are things that can happen very well.”
Lawyers who specialize in vaccine policy referred to other areas where the country’s Minister of Health has power on vaccines. One of them is the vaccine injuries compensation program, which was created in 1986 for the vaccine makers shield and the establishment of a court system to compensate for the people who have harmed vaccines.
Although Mr. Kennedy suggested that he provide a shield of responsibility incentives Vaccine makers to cut the cornersHe had no power to remove him – this lies with Congress. However, the Minister of Health can add injuries to the damage schedule supposed to be caused by vaccines. The Amin can also add or remove vaccines from the jurisdiction of the court.
As an official over the Food and Drug Administration in the driving executive chain, the minister can pay the agency to stop or cancel the approval of well -known vaccines or withhold approval from those who seek to obtain permission.
“These are real possibilities,” said Dennis Hill, a lawyer for Iowa, who specializes in the vaccine law. “And if you asked me five years ago, I will say that it will never happen, but now I cannot say that with no certainty.”
Ms. Hill said it would also be possible for the Trump administration to try to put the conditions on the funds of the pediatric vaccine program, such as dropping her mandate for students who enter kindergarten in immunization.
The Secretary also has power on an effective advisory committee at the Center for Disease Control called the Consultative Committee for Evangelical or Acip practices that can be resolved, according to Mr. Hughes. The Amin can also reconsider safety matters from vaccines and reject the committee’s recommendations.
This committee tends to influence the level of level, doctors and private insurance companies. But it has more direct authority than the vaccines that are distributed by the children’s program. Dr. Walter Orinztein, who managed the immunization programs at the Center for Disease Control when the children’s program began, said he was concerned that Mr. Kennedy could change the makeup of the committee.
“There is a possibility that they can put it in ACIP a large number of anti -vaccine people, and this will have some possible negative effects, in terms of changing the current recommendations,” said Dr. Orincity. “This may mean that the vaccines will not be presented through the children’s vaccine program.”
Ms. Rosnabum, who helped create the system, said the vaccines covered by Medicaid and the cost of giving them decades ago. However, many doctors did not want to face trouble to pay in advance to keep the vaccines stored in their offices.
Mrs. Rosnabjan said that the system that he built was a revolutionary in that it enabled the Minister of Health to negotiate prices with vaccine makers and ship doses directly to thousands of service providers.
The program has been expanded to cover the working class families above the Medicaid income that depends on Chip, or the children’s health insurance program. These programs cover about 38 million infants, children and adolescents, including those who depend on the original American health systems.
Ms. Rosnabum said, after thirty years, that Mr. Kennedy faces confirmation, the people familiar with the program assumed that it might be a target if confirmed. “People did not interact with the alarm without reason,” she said.
