MAHA world is thrilled with RFK Jr.'s latest vaccine changes

Driving the news: Kennedy's handpicked vaccine advisory panel is due to wade into the decades-old federal childhood vaccination schedule and the use of aluminum compounds as vaccine ingredients — topics that have long been catnip for vaccine skeptics.

• The committee will also vote on ending the practice of vaccinating all newborns for hepatitis B and will examine whether childhood immunizations are collectively driving a rise in allergies and autoimmune disorders, the committee's new chair told the Washington Post.

Where it stands: The meeting on Thursday and Friday follows other recent changes to federal vaccine policy, including threatened new hurdles to future vaccine approvals.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bannered debunked claims that vaccines may cause autism on its website last month, sending shockwaves through the public health community, even though Kennedy long promoted such a link before becoming health secretary.
• He told the New York Times that he had personally instructed the CDC to make the change, and that "the phrase 'Vaccines do not cause autism' is not supported by science.''
• In a recent internal memo, top Food and Drug Administration vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad blamed COVID vaccinations for the death of at least 10 children and said the agency will take a tougher approach to vaccine oversight.
• The administration had previously pulled funding for mRNA vaccine development and walked back recommendations about who should receive COVID shots.

What they're saying: "I don't know if it's an acceleration, or it's the right timing because now he has the right pieces in place that he needed to move forward his agenda. When he came in, it was him against the world," said Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance.

• "What we were waiting for all of these months ... now it's starting to happen."

The big picture: Key voices within the MAHA and anti-vaccine movements have portrayed the changes as hard-won validation of their views.

• Many had close ties to Kennedy prior to his entry into government and were growing impatient with the pace of change.
• "We've been working for this for many, many years. Thank you @SecKennedy," Brian Hooker of Children's Health Defense posted on X after the CDC website change. CHD was founded by Kennedy.
• "The significance and importance of [Prasad's memo] in the context of US and global vaccine policy cannot be overestimated," Robert Malone, the vaccine advisory panel vice chair, wrote on his Substack. "This is a revolution, the likes of which I never expected to see in my lifetime."

Yes, but: Though the federal government is laying the groundwork for even bigger changes to how vaccines are developed and administered, it remains unclear whether any of the panel's nonbinding recommendations this week will translate into concrete policy shifts — or even how much of a real-world impact Prasad's memo or the CDC's autism stance will generate.

• A lack of follow-through risks disappointing key allies of the administration.
• And the MAHA movement isn't of one mind regarding vaccines. While most embrace "medical freedom" and are skeptical of COVID vaccines, others' skepticism extends well beyond mRNA shots.
• Varon said that though he'd like to see the COVID vaccine "eradicated off the face of this earth," he knows Kennedy is fighting against a "giant bureaucracy."

• "But if he doesn't pull it off the market, I'm going to need more data, and more studies that are unbiased," he added.

Between the lines: Some prominent activists are calling for the administration to go much further than what it's signaled.

• Mark Gorton, head of the MAHA Institute, called for the elimination of the childhood vaccine schedule and the removal of vaccines from the market at a recent Children's Health Defense conference, according to the Washington Post.
• "I've come to this anti-vax conference with a message: that we need to be more boldly anti-vax," Gorton said.
• The Atlantic quotes him as saying this at the same conference: "There's been a lot of progress in terms of the MAHA movement, but if you look at real, meaningful changes in the health system, they're trivial."

And though most activists have avoided being openly critical, a few have taken their disappointments public.

• "The buck stops with you. A strongly worded email is not enough. How many more children have to die before they take action?" anti-vaccine activist Mary Talley Bowden posted in response to Prasad's letter on X, tagging Kennedy and FDA commissioner Marty Makary.
• An HHS spokesperson said: "The progress we are making shows our dedication to promoting gold standard, evidence-based science. We will remain committed to this goal."

The bottom line: MAHA world is leaning strongly into the argument that success in next year's midterms is dependent on pleasing its constituents, but polling suggests that going too far on vaccines is bad for the GOP.

• That may set up a clash between the administration and the most vocal anti-vaccine activists in the coming months.
• It also sets up a potential deadline for Kennedy.
• "The next 11, 12 months are going to be important to get the job done," Varon said. If Congress flips from total GOP control, "I don't know what is going to happen to Mr. Kennedy."