No one knows where US vaccine policy will go next

Health and human Services Secretary Robert F. kennedy jr He has pursued a sweeping overhaul of federal vaccine guidance and infrastructure since taking office just over a year ago. Now, his agenda is on hold after a federal judge blocked many of those changes and as reports emerged that the White House is reining in its anti-vaccine rhetoric ahead of the midterm elections.

What’s next for the United States? Serum The policy will depend on the outcome of a federal court case and whether Kennedy is allowed to resume his anti-vaccine campaign after November. Even if the Trump administration focuses on a more science-backed approach to vaccines, public health experts are concerned about the long-term effects of Kennedy’s tenure so far.

“It’s unknown what these repercussions will look like,” says Sera Madad, chief biological preparedness officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal health care system in the United States. “Already, we are seeing more vaccine hesitancy. We are seeing the emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles.”

Kennedy, a longtime proponent of vaccine conspiracy theorists, dropped COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women. Last May. Soon after, he ousted all 17 previous members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which makes vaccine recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After appointing new members with a history of criticizing vaccines, the reconstituted committee voted last December to end the recommendation for a universal dose at birth of vaccines. Hepatitis B vaccineThe directives have been in force since 1991.

Kennedy in January Announce sweeping changes to the childhood immunization schedule, bypassing the Vaccine Advisory Committee and reducing the number of routine vaccines from 17 to 11 without providing any scientific justification for doing so.

A lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups has challenged the changes. A federal judge ruled in March that members of the new commission were appointed illegally, invalidating their previous procedures. The decision also temporarily halted implementation of Kennedy’s changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, because he had not consulted ACIP first.

The Trump administration said it would appeal the order, putting vaccine policy in limbo. “DHHS looks forward to overturning this judge’s decision just like his other attempts to block the Trump administration from governing,” Department of Health spokesman Andrew Nixon told WIRED in an email.

Kennedy in recent weeks It has softened His message is about vaccines, focusing instead on nutrition, microplastics and advertising New podcast. Robert Malone, one of Kennedy’s hand-picked members of ACIP, who resigned in March, said on A Conservative Podcast That a White House adviser ordered Kennedy to “shut down” any discussions about vaccines before the November midterm elections suggests that Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views are unpopular with voters.

How the United States will make decisions about vaccines during the remainder of President Trump’s term is an open question. ACIP recommendations become federal policy when they are adopted by CDC Director Button Kennedy Former CDC director fired Susan Monarrez, for allegedly not approving his vaccine changes. The position has been open since August, with the agency currently run by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. Despite his boss’s anti-vaccine views, Bhattacharya recently told staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it is “absolutely essential” to get the measles vaccine.

“Vaccination recommendations are frozen until the time before Kennedy takes office,” says Elizabeth Jacobs, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona and a founding member of Public Health Defense, a grassroots organization formed in late 2024 after Kennedy’s nomination.