"This fall, when vaccine season comes around, everything might seem like business as usual. Vaccine schedules for kids are more or less intact, and the new flu and COVID vaccines are both scheduled to be released in time for the expected winter surge. The Trump administration hasn't had much of a visible effect on vaccines as the shots currently exist. What's being systematically dismantled is the infrastructure that creates, tracks, and facilitates the distribution of vaccines as we've come to know and rely on them."
"Late last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. laid out new restrictions for COVID vaccines, announcing that they would only be recommended for people ages 65 and older or those at risk of suffering serious health consequences from the disease. This isn't an entirely surprising development; many people feel ambivalent about the COVID vaccines, which makes them an easy target for disruption."
Vaccine schedules for children remain largely intact, and updated flu and COVID vaccines are expected before the winter surge. The federal administration has altered vaccine policy while leaving existing vaccines available. New HHS guidance restricts COVID vaccine recommendations to people aged 65+ and those at high risk of severe disease. That restriction creates a precedent that could normalize distrust of vaccine systems and enable broader discrediting of vaccines. In the absence of clear federal direction, states are diverging: some intend to coordinate recommendations, while others plan to end mandates. The erosion of infrastructure that creates, tracks, and distributes vaccines will complicate rebuilding and patient decision-making.
Read at The Atlantic
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