Trump and allies at odds over COVID shots
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The Trump administration and vaccine critics are clashing over whether to remove COVID vaccines from the market entirely, a leader of a key federal vaccine advisory committee has publicly suggested.
Why it matters: It's shaping up to be a big test of whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. keeps his pledge that vaccines will remain available to anyone who wants them.
Driving the news: Robert Malone — a Kennedy ally and vice chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — has publicly accused Food and Drug Administration commissioner Marty Makary of blocking efforts to remove COVID vaccines from the market.
- "Regarding covid vax [Health and Human Services] policy — How do you eat an elephant ? One bite at a time," Malone recently posted on X.
- In response to a user who argued the FDA needs to take COVID vaccines off the market, Malone replied, "We are aligned."
- And in response to another user who asked "precisely what is the hold up, & who is the hold up," Malone responded, "Commissioner FDA."
Malone later vowed to take action against the shots from his perch on the advisory committee, which makes formal recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is due to meet in February.
- "I'm not deaf to the calls that we need to get the COVID vaccine mRNA products off the market. All I can say is stay tuned and wait for the upcoming ACIP meeting. If the FDA won't act, there are other entities that will," he recently said on a call with MAHA Action, a nonprofit aligned with Kennedy's political movement.
What we're watching: COVID vaccines will likely be on the agenda at February's meeting, though the details still are being determined, according to a source familiar with the plans.
- The committee member in charge of a task force reviewing the safety of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna has previously described them as "the most failing medical product in the history of medical products" and called for them to be removed from the market, per the New York Times.
- But the committee's power is limited to making recommendations to CDC leadership. While they carry weight, panel members have no authority to revoke vaccine licenses.
The big picture: Several of the officials now leading the nation's top health agencies — including Kennedy and Makary — became well-known during the pandemic as skeptics of the government's response, including the vaccines and policymaking around them.
- The vaccines themselves were a product of Operation Warp Speed during Trump's first term, though the vast majority of the vaccination push happened under the Biden administration.
- But despite Kennedy's past criticism of COVID shots and other vaccines, he has insisted he won't curb access for those who want them, in a possible acknowledgement of the political risk.
- Adhering to that red line requires ignoring calls from groups close to the administration to pull the shots from the market altogether.
Where it stands: In a leaked internal memo in November, the FDA's top vaccine regulator said an internal agency review had linked COVID-19 vaccines to the deaths of 10 children.
- It has not since released any documented evidence to back up those claims.
- Makary told Bloomberg late last year that the agency has "no plans" to put a "black box" warning on the shots, though the agency is reviewing deaths across multiple age groups that are potentially related to the shots.
What they're saying: HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon pointed to the FDA's updated safety labeling of COVID vaccines, which are now recommended only for seniors and those at risk of severe illness, and the CDC's updated vaccine schedules.
- Pressed specifically for comment on whether the administration is considering revoking the vaccines' license, Nixon said, "I'm not going to speculate on future, potential policy decisions that may or may not happen."
