I don’t want to start this article by saying that the sky is falling, but it is clear that HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) is doing his best to destroy the US system for vaccines. He’s not doing it in one fell swoop; instead, he is successfully doing it one little step at a time.

I don’t know what Kennedy’s ultimate goal is, but I would not be shocked or surprised if he wants to eliminate all vaccines from the country. Even if you wanted yourself or your child to be fully vaccinated, if Kennedy had his way, you would not have access to vaccines.

All that will mean is that millions of children will be infected by dangerous and deadly diseases that we once thought were gone. You will see measles, polio, diphtheria, and all diseases return. The US healthcare system would probably buckle under the overwhelming number of sick children and adults. The US healthcare system was barely functioning during the COVID pandemic — millions of sick and dying children filling pediatric ICUs would destroy it.

What is Kennedy doing about vaccines?

As I’ve written previously, Kennedy’s anti-vaccine ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) has decided to quit recommending the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, changing decades of official CDC policy on the vaccine. Of course, the recommendation may seem inconsequential because the ACIP also stated that parents can choose to give the vaccine to their children.

This is just the first step in how Kennedy is attempting to destroy the US vaccine system. Again, I don’t want to sound a false alarm about how the hepatitis B vaccine changes portend an end to vaccine availability in the US. But, I don’t think I’m alone in believing that the hepatitis B vaccine changes are the first step in the long game of making vaccines harder to get or sowing fear, uncertainty, and doubt about vaccines.

Here’s how I see the changes in the hepatitis B vaccine schedule can lead to dangerous consequences:

1. Most importantly, it can be confusing to parents who aren’t particularly tuned to vaccine discussions when the CDC says no vaccines at birth, but an evidence-based pediatrician strongly recommends it. Moreover, certain states, like California, Washington, and Oregon, are setting different schedules for vaccines. Parents may not vaccinate their children, even though they can, against hepatitis B.
2. Many health insurance companies will cover hepatitis B vaccines, but some may not. Until recently, health insurance companies covered any vaccine recommended by the CDC — now there is more confusion for parents.
3. Unfortunately, the largest provider of vaccines, the Vaccines for Children Program (VCP), a CDC program that has saved thousands of children’s lives by providing free vaccines to infants and children, must follow ACIP guidelines. Therefore, 40 million children who are eligible for these vaccines may not be able to get vaccines such as the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Kennedy could start with the hepatitis B vaccine, but begin changing recommendations for other vaccines that are included in the VCP.

All this means is that the risk of hepatitis B in children will dramatically rise over the next few years, with a concomitant rise in hepatitis B disease and related cancers. Yes, the hepatitis B vaccine prevents cancer.

Donald Trump jumped into the fray with a “Truth Social” post about the hepatitis B vaccine and the vaccine schedule.

David Gorski, MD, recently critiqued this mass of misinformation, so I don’t need to add to that. However, if there was any doubt that the change in the hepatitis B vaccine recommendations was just the first step in destroying the US vaccine system, this post from Trump certainly makes it clear. They want to harm American children by bringing back diseases that have long gone.

By the way, hepatitis B is not just transmitted by dirty needles and sexual activity — it can be passed to the baby from an infected mother, or from an infected child to an uninfected child during the first 5 years of life.

But it gets worse.

The FDA and vaccines

The FDA is going to change its regulatory policies about vaccines. According to an article on NPR:

The Food and Drug Administration intends to get tougher on vaccine approvals, as top officials raised concerns about the risk of COVID vaccines for children.

Speaking on Fox News Saturday morning, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would no longer “rubber-stamp new products that don’t work,” claiming it made a “mockery of science.”

Makary’s comments came the day after FDA’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, told his team the agency would change its annual flu vaccine framework, update vaccine labels to be “honest,” and make other changes to how it reviews vaccines, according to contents of an internal email reviewed by NPR and reported on first by a PBS News Hour correspondent and later by The Washington Post.

Prasad wrote that the FDA would also no longer authorize vaccines for pregnant women without stricter requirements. And for pneumonia vaccines, manufacturers will have to prove they reduce disease rather than show they generate antibodies. He also raised questions about giving multiple vaccines at the same time, which is standard practice.

This is a complete mess, which has the goal of causing fear, uncertainty, and doubt about vaccines.

Vaccines work, so Makary’s claims are just plain malarkey. Vaccines undergo clinical trials before the FDA approves them. That is the gold standard of science.

Furthermore, vaccines are monitored through post-marketing studies to confirm their safety and effectiveness. The science of vaccine safety and efficacy continues every day, despite Makary’s claims.

And Prasad’s claims about pneumonia vaccines are unethical. Apparently, he wants children and adults to actually catch pneumonia (in the control group) so that their suffering can be compared to the vaccinated group. Generating antibodies is a “gold standard” method for determining whether a vaccine causes immunity to a disease.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, and his sycophants, Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, are doing their best to destroy confidence in the US vaccine system. All that means is that more kids are at risk of dangerous and deadly diseases. That’s all they are doing — harming children.

Summary

Again, the changes in recommendations for the hepatitis B vaccine should not be considered a one-off change. It’s just the first step in Kennedy and his sycophants’ goals to cause great harm to vaccines. Their goal no longer seems to be to refuse vaccines for their own children and family, but rather to make sure that people cannot access vaccines, even if they ignore the anti-vaccine rhetoric and want themselves and their children to be fully vaccinated.

I never thought I’d be here, but I’m deeply troubled that vaccines may disappear. Of course, those with means can pay for vaccines or, if it ever comes to this, fly to Canada to get vaccinated.

Sadly, these changes will have a major effect on the economically disadvantaged, since they may rely upon programs like the Vaccines for Children Program. But it can affect other families who are confused about the conflicting recommendations for vaccines.

I cannot believe we have reached this point with vaccines. I wish these people, like Kennedy, could comprehend how many lives have been saved by vaccines over the past 100 years. If this keeps going, hospitals are going to be filled with children who need iron lungs. It makes no sense to me.

Help the Skeptical Raptor keep writing about vaccines

There are four ways you can help contribute to keeping this website running at full speed:

1. GoFundMe.
2. Subscribing via Patreon.
3. Buying on Amazon.
4. Sharing this article on Social Media.