{"id":24730,"date":"2026-06-18T05:23:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/must-read-washpost-inside-the-push-to-keep-rfk-jr-s-vaccine-agenda-alive-protect-our-care\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:23:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:23:38","slug":"must-read-washpost-inside-the-push-to-keep-rfk-jr-s-vaccine-agenda-alive-protect-our-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/must-read-washpost-inside-the-push-to-keep-rfk-jr-s-vaccine-agenda-alive-protect-our-care\/","title":{"rendered":"MUST READ: WashPost: \u2018Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.\u2019s vaccine agenda alive\u2019 – Protect Our Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

See Washington Post report below. As Protect Our Care has stressed <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and\u00a0over<\/a> and over<\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>over<\/span><\/a> again, Donald Trump and RFK Jr. haven\u2019t retreated an inch on their deeply unpopular and dangerous anti-vax agenda in the months since White House officials claimed \u201c<\/span>We\u2019re just kind of done with the vaccine issue<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s sprawled miles further.<\/span>
Reaction from Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care\u2019s Public Health Project<\/b>: \u201cHealth Department insiders confirm that RFK Jr. has many irons in the anti-vax fire despite White House denials and the great harms posed to public health. As expected, Trump\u2019s health secretary is doing everything in his power to manufacture misinformation against the overwhelming scientific consensus on vaccine safety and efficacy, despite claims to the contrary. Kennedy is scheming to bring even more science deniers into the administration fold and burrow them into every facet of federal vaccine research and policy. Layer after layer is being added to RFK Jr\u2019s relentless anti-vax fear campaign that has only made Americans sicker from preventable disease now flourishing under declining vaccination rates.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
The public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story. Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services has been pursuing vaccine studies.<\/span>
June 17, 2026 \/\/ By Rachel Roubein and Lena H. Sun<\/span>
In February at Republicans\u2019 private Capitol Hill clubhouse, President Donald Trump\u2019s chief pollster delivered a message about voters and their desire to hear about affordability. The briefing, attended by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., additional Cabinet members and others, didn\u2019t focus on immunizations, as Republican strategists had concluded vaccine skepticism carried political risks.<\/span>
Inside the Department of Health and Human Services, officials understood that a sweeping change the month before that recommended <\/span>fewer childhood vaccines<\/span><\/a> had been their last major effort on immunizations for a while after it had been a <\/span>core<\/span><\/a> agenda item, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.<\/span>
But outside the public eye, a small circle of Kennedy\u2019s allies has kept working to reshape the federal apparatus that guides vaccines. This account of the behind-the-scenes effort is based on interviews with more than 15 people familiar with the matter, in addition to medical experts and Kennedy allies, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations or internal deliberations, or out of fear of retaliation.<\/span>
Federal health officials are exploring re-creating an influential vaccine advisory panel that <\/span>was blocked<\/span><\/a> by a federal judge<\/span>, <\/span>including discussions around adding new members,<\/span> according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.\u00a0<\/span>
There is also an effort to create a new Office of Science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that reports to the office of CDC\u2019s chief of staff, even though the agency already has a science office.<\/span>
Earlier this month, the National Institutes of Health urged scientists to take part in <\/span>vaccine injury research<\/span><\/a> and encouraged new research into <\/span>vaccine schedules,<\/span><\/a> vaccines\u2019 long-term health effects and other issues that Kennedy has long wanted reexamined.<\/span>
These moves, the extent of which have not been previously reported, suggest that political warnings and <\/span>legal challenges<\/span><\/a> from medical groups have not fully stopped Kennedy\u2019s vaccine agenda, but shifted it largely out of public view. Kennedy\u2019s allies are embedding his agenda in institutions that decide what gets studied, who does vaccine research and how these findings are translated into policy. This could keep the Trump administration\u2019s questioning of vaccines\u2019 safety alive for years to come.<\/span>
\u201cThe changes being made across the vaccine ecosystem \u2014 from [vaccine development] research not being conducted to efforts intended to question vaccine safety \u2014 are likely to have a long tail and impact both future vaccine development and use,\u201d said Bruce Gellin, who oversaw HHS\u2019s vaccine program in the Bush and Obama administrations.<\/span>
In the short term, changes to vaccine policy that emphasize risk over benefit confuse people, leading them to wait on getting vaccinated, he said. But waiting can stoke diseases and outbreaks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group, has <\/span>long disparaged<\/span><\/a> vaccines and argued immunizations have not been <\/span>properly studied,<\/span><\/a> defying medical experts who say commonly administered shots are safe and effective. As the nation\u2019s top health official, Kennedy views launching new vaccine studies as one of his mandates, which one person familiar with the effort characterized as \u201cone of his top priorities.\u201d<\/span>
Federal health officials are aiming to research a wide range of vaccine-related questions, including whether routine immunizations are linked to autism, autoimmune disorders and other medical conditions, as well as the potential effects of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that has long been a focus of vaccine skeptics. The New York Times <\/span>first reported<\/span><\/a> these studies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
[\u2026]\u00a0<\/span>
At the CDC, Stuart Burns, a senior adviser with responsibilities for vaccine policy, is seeking to establish a new Office of Science inside CDC\u2019s chief of staff office, according to two people familiar with the plans. Burns, a former top aide to then-Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Florida), who was Trump\u2019s <\/span>first nominee<\/span><\/a> for CDC director, speaks directly with Kennedy, according to former agency officials. Burns did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/span>
Former officials said the plan appears aimed at giving Kennedy allies greater influence over the committee that shapes vaccine recommendations, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That panel was one of Kennedy\u2019s earliest and most ambitious targets to influence how vaccine decisions are made. Kennedy fired the 17 previous members and appointed new members last year, including several vaccine skeptics.<\/span>
This spring, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from changing the nation\u2019s childhood immunization schedule and suspended the appointment of many of Kennedy\u2019s handpicked vaccine advisers on that committee, citing a flawed process. The health department last week <\/span>sought<\/span><\/a> for a federal court to expedite its appeal. Kennedy said on social media that the court\u2019s order left the panel unable to \u201cissue new recommendations, review newly approved vaccines, or complete important work ahead of the fall flu season.\u201d<\/span>
In recent weeks, federal health officials have moved to address some of the judge\u2019s concerns, including reestablishing <\/span>a charter<\/span><\/a> guiding the influential panel charged with deciding how and when children should be immunized, according to two people familiar with the matter.<\/span>
A copy of the new charter, obtained by The Washington Post, could give Kennedy broader discretion in selecting the expert advisers, according to two people familiar with the panel\u2019s selection process. The charter no longer explicitly states that all members should have expertise in specific vaccine-related fields. Instead, the new charter, which Kennedy signed on May 14, states that members \u201cshall collectively represent a balanced range of scientific, clinical, and public health expertise relevant to the Committee\u2019s mission.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
While vaccine rhetoric from Kennedy has quieted in recent months, the White House <\/span>recently<\/span><\/a> doubled down on a presidential push aimed at sharply reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccines, aligning more closely with European nations and other developed countries. A federal judge had put the changes on hold. Trump has been known to praise certain vaccines, such as the polio shot, <\/span>while questioning<\/span><\/a> the number of immunizations children receive.\u00a0<\/span>
READ ON.<\/span><\/a>

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See Washington Post report below. As Protect Our Care has stressed over and over and over and over and over and\u00a0over and over and over and over and over again, Donald Trump and RFK Jr. haven\u2019t retreated an inch on their deeply unpopular and dangerous anti-vax agenda in the months since White House officials claimed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}