The new advisors on vaccines of the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., added on Friday confusion about the use of vaccines against COVID-19 when refusing to recommend them and leave the decision in the hands of individuals.
Until now, every fall had been indicated as a routine measure for almost all Americans, as with the annual flu vaccine.
The Food and Medicines Administration (FDA, in English) had already imposed new vaccines for this year of Pfizer, Modern and Novavax, reserving them for people over 65 years of age or younger or younger who are considered at greater risk of contracting the virus.
In a series of voting on Friday, the advisors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, in English) took the unprecedented measure not to recommend them even for high -risk groups, such as older people; Instead, they chose to let each person make their own decision.
The panel also urged CDCs to adopt a more forceful language regarding the risks of vaccines, despite the opposition of external medical groups that claimed that they have a proven security history thanks to the billions of doses administered worldwide.
The panel, in a vote divided by narrow margin, Avoiding states to demand a medical recipe For people who wish to get the vaccine. The measure was taken after the protests of some of the advisors, who claimed that this additional step would block access to vaccination.
(Florida says what vaccines will remain mandatory and which not in schools)
“I have to wait a year” to see the primary doctor, said Dr. Cody Meissner of Dartmouth College. “It will essentially be a barrier.”
The meeting is the last example of Kennedy’s effort to reformulate vaccination policies in the country so that they coincide with their long -standing doubts about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
Independent public health experts reacted with relief to see that the panel did not add obstacles to immunization, but affirmed that the lack of a recommendation will be confusing for people who do not know if they could benefit them.
“The good news is that anyone can receive the vaccine. The bad is that no one is encouraged to do so, not even those who belong to a high -risk group,” said Dr. Paul Offit, from Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, a vaccine researcher and former government advisor who has been facing Kennedy for years.
The doctor Sean O’Leary, of the American Pediatrics Academy, said that the panel debate was a clear attempt to sow distrust about vaccines, which would have “real -time repercussions on American children.”
(CDC panel appointed by RFK Jr. recommends restricting the MMRV to children under 4 years)
COVID-19 remains a threat to public health. CDC data published in June show that the virus caused between 32,000 and 51,000 deaths in the United States and more than 250,000 hospitalizations in the past and winter. The people with the greatest risk of hospitalization are the elderly and young children, especially those who were not vaccinated.
Injections against COVID-19 are not perfect, but CDC data shows that they offer the best protection against serious infections and death, even if people infect. Similarly, people can contract the virus several times, as it continues to evolve.
