Pallone: Kennedy’s War on Vaccines Will Lead to Deaths

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today blasting new recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) making it harder for Americans to access lifesaving vaccines:

"Secretary Kennedy fired the medical experts who served on the vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with quacks and anti-vaccine activists. Now, we are witnessing the fallout of this catastrophic decision.

"ACIP’s action on measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella threatens the lives of children under the age of 4. This combination vaccine has been safely administered since 2009, and yesterday’s action means that insurance is no longer required to cover the MMRV vaccine for children under 4. 

"With this dangerous recommendation, Secretary Kennedy and his handpicked ACIP panel are taking away the choice and health insurance coverage for parents to access the MMRV vaccine.  It was also deeply disturbing to watch the level of embarrassing confusion and ignorance the current ACIP members showed regarding the implications of their recommendation change, which is only a small sampling of the chaos to come for parents and providers hoping to get the best care possible for their families. I expect that Secretary Kennedy’s ACIP will cause even more harm and confusion later today by voting to restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccine, and also possibly hepatitis B in the future.

"Let me be clear, children will die due to the return of vaccine-preventable diseases as a result of ACIP’s action. To remove this recommendation in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in the country will only lead to increased vaccine hesitancy and lost lives. Secretary Kennedy is a threat to the health and safety of this country, and I hope that President Trump does the right thing and fires him before more lives are lost."

Pallone has introduced several pieces of legislation in response to Secretary Kennedy’s ongoing efforts to restrict access to vaccines for American families, including:

• Introduced the Family Vaccine Protection Act with Congresswoman Kim Schrier (D-WA) to restore in the independence of ACIP and take politics out of vaccine recommendations.
• Joined with other Democratic Health Committee leaders tointroduce the Protecting Free Vaccines Act this week to ensure health insurance continues to cover recommended vaccines free of cost-sharing for patients.

###