Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies throughout his Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions affirmation listening to.
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures
A doc the Division of Well being and Human Providers despatched to lawmakers to help Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s determination to alter U.S. coverage on COVID vaccines cites scientific research which are unpublished or underneath dispute and mischaracterizes others.
One well being skilled referred to as the doc “willful medical disinformation” in regards to the security of COVID vaccines for kids and pregnant ladies.
“It’s so far out of left subject that I discover it insulting to our members of Congress that they’d truly give them one thing like this. Congress members are counting on these businesses to supply them with legitimate info, and it is simply not there,” mentioned Dr. Mark Turrentine, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor Faculty of Medication.
Kennedy, who was an anti-vaccine activist earlier than taking a job within the administration, introduced Could 27 that the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention would not suggest COVID vaccines for pregnant ladies or wholesome kids, bypassing the company’s formal course of for adjusting its vaccine schedules for adults and youngsters.
The announcement, made on the social media platform X, has been met with outrage by many pediatricians and scientists.
The HHS doc meant to help Kennedy’s determination, obtained by KFF Well being Information, was despatched to members of Congress, in accordance with Democratic workers on the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee and the workplace of Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash.
Titled “Covid Suggestion FAQ”, the doc has not been posted on the HHS web site, although it’s the first detailed rationalization of Kennedy’s announcement from the company.
Medical consultants who reviewed all of the citations within the FAQ mentioned it distorts some legit research and cites others which are disputed and unpublished.
HHS director of communications Andrew Nixon instructed KFF Well being Information: “There isn’t any distortion of the research on this doc. The underlying knowledge speaks for itself, and it raises legit security considerations. HHS won’t ignore that proof or downplay it. We are going to observe the info and the science.”
HHS didn’t reply to a request to call the creator of the doc.
One of many research the HHS doc cites is underneath investigation by its writer, Sage Journals, relating to “potential points with the analysis methodology and conclusions and creator conflicts of curiosity,” in accordance with a hyperlink on the examine’s webpage.
“That is RFK Jr.’s playbook,” mentioned Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the Committee on Infectious Illnesses for the American Academy of Pediatrics and an assistant professor of pediatrics on the College of Colorado College of Medication. “Both cherry-pick from good science or take junk science to help his premise — this has been his playbook for 20 years.”
Outdated and misinterpreted analysis about myocarditis and pericarditis
One other examine cited within the doc is a preprint that was made accessible on-line a 12 months in the past, and has nonetheless not been revealed in a peer-reviewed journal. Below the examine’s title is an alert that “it studies new medical analysis that has but to be evaluated and so shouldn’t be used to information medical apply.”
An alert in blue on the high of a preprint examine cited within the HHS doc informs readers the examine has not been peer-reviewed.
Screengrab of a preprint examine on medRxiv.org/KFF
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Screengrab of a preprint examine on medRxiv.org/KFF
The FAQ attracts on the preprint to assert that “post-marketing research” of COVID vaccines have recognized “critical adversarial results, akin to an elevated threat of myocarditis and pericarditis” — situations through which the guts’s muscle or its protecting, the pericardium, endure irritation.
Whereas analysis early within the pandemic did discover that, new analysis not included within the memo signifies that the chance has fallen with new vaccine protocols.
And the HHS doc omitted quite a few different peer-reviewed research which have proven that the chance of myocarditis and pericarditis is larger after contracting COVID for each vaccinated and non-vaccinated folks than the chance of the identical problems after vaccination alone.
One the 2024 preprint coauthors refuted the concept their analysis discovered myocarditis and pericarditis had been attributable to the COVID photographs, fairly than COVID an infection, noting that the examine didn’t examine outcomes between individuals who had been vaccinated and people contaminated with the COVID virus.
The examine additionally centered solely on kids and adolescents.
O’Leary mentioned that whereas some instances of myocarditis had been reported in vaccinated adolescent boys and younger males early within the COVID pandemic, the charges declined after the 2 preliminary doses of COVID vaccines had been spaced additional aside.
Now, adolescents and adults who haven’t been beforehand vaccinated obtain just one shot, and myocarditis not exhibits up within the knowledge, O’Leary mentioned, referring to the CDC’s Vaccine Security Datalink. “There isn’t any elevated threat at this level that we are able to determine,” he mentioned.
Congress depends on well being businesses for correct steerage
In two cases, the HHS memo makes claims about risks to pregnant ladies which are actively refuted by the papers it cites to again them up. Each papers help the security and effectiveness of COVID vaccines for pregnant ladies.
The HHS doc says that one other paper it cites discovered “a rise in placental blood clotting in pregnant moms who took the vaccine.” However the paper would not comprise any reference to placental blood clots or to pregnant ladies.
“I’ve now learn it thrice. And I can not discover that wherever,” mentioned Turrentine, the OB-GYN professor.
If he had been grading the HHS doc, “I’d give this an ‘F,'” Turrentine mentioned. “This isn’t supported by something and it isn’t utilizing medical proof.”
Whereas members of Congress who’re physicians ought to know to verify references within the paper, they might not take the time to take action, mentioned Dr. Neil Silverman, a professor of medical obstetrics and gynecology who directs the Infectious Illnesses in Being pregnant Program on the David Geffen College of Medication at UCLA.
“They are going to assume that is coming from a scientific company. So they’re being hoodwinked together with everybody else who has had entry to this doc,” Silverman mentioned.
The places of work of three Republicans in Congress who’re medical medical doctors serving on Home and Senate committees centered on well being, together with Sen. Invoice Cassidy, R-La., didn’t reply to requests for remark about whether or not they acquired the memo. Emily Druckman, communications director for Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., a doctor serving on the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee, confirmed that Rep. Schrier’s workplace did obtain a duplicate of the doc.
“The issue is a whole lot of legislators and even their staffers, they do not have the experience to have the ability to decide these references aside,” O’Leary mentioned.”
C.J. Younger, deputy communications director for the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee, confirmed that Democratic workers members of the committee acquired the doc from HHS. Prior to now, he mentioned, comparable paperwork would assist make clear the justification and scope of an administration’s coverage change and could possibly be assumed to be scientifically correct, Younger mentioned.
“This feels prefer it’s breaking new floor. I do not suppose that we noticed this stage of sloppiness or inattention to element or lack of consideration for scientific benefit underneath the primary Trump administration,” Younger mentioned.
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is without doubt one of the core working packages at KFF.
