A document The Ministry of Health and Human Services sent to legislators to support the decision of secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To change the American policy on COVID vaccins, scientific studies that are not published or are under dispute quotes and can misunderstand others.
A health expert called the document “Intentional medical disinformation” about the safety of Covid -vaccines for children and pregnant women.
“It’s so far from the left field that I find it insulting to our members of the congress that they would actually give them something like that. Congrests trust these agencies to provide them valid information, and it’s just not,” said there, “said Mark TurrentinA professor in obstetrics and gynecology at the Baylor College of Medicine.
Kennedy, who was an anti-vaccin activist before played a role in the Trump administration, announced on 27 May that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend COVID vaccines for pregnant women or healthy children, making it the formal process of the agency. The announcement, made on the social platform XIs indignant by many pediatricians and scientists.
The HHS document intended to support Kennedy’s decision obtained by KFF Health News, was sent to members of the congress who questioned the science and the trial behind his move, according to a federal officer who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
The document was not placed on the HHS website, although it is the first detailed explanation of the announcement of Kennedy from the agency.
With the title ‘Covid recommendation FAQ’, the document distorts some legitimate studies and quotes others who are disputed and not published, medical experts say.
HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon told KFF Health News: “There is no distortion of the studies in this document. The underlying data speak for itself and it evokes legitimate safety problems. HHS will not ignore or trivialize that evidence. We will follow the data and science.”
HHS did not respond to a request to name the author of the document.
One of the studies The HHS document CITES is being investigated by the publisher about “potential issues with the research method and conclusions and conflicts of interest,” said a link on The webpage of the study.
“This is RFK Jr.’s playbook,” said Sean O’LearyChairman of the Infectious Diseases Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a university professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “Either cherry picking of good science or taking Junstestenschap to support his starting point has been his playbook for 20 years.”
Another Cited study The document contains a pre -pressure that has not been assessed. Under the title of the study, a warning is that “the new medical examination reports that it still needs to be evaluated and therefore not to be used to guide clinical practice.” Although the PrePrint was made available a year ago, it was not published in a peer-reviewed magazine.
The FAQ that supports Kennedy’s decision claims that “postmarketing studies” of COVID vaccines “have identified serious adverse effects, such as an increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis” disorders in which the muscle of the heart or coverage, the pericardium, the pericardium, suffer.
False claims that the Preprint 2024 only showed myocarditis and pericarditis in people who received a Covid vaccine, and not in people infected with Covid, spread on social media. One of the Co-authors of the study Public rejected that idea because the study did not compare the results between people who had been vaccinated and people who were infected with the Covid virus. The study was also only focused on children and adolescents. The HHS -Document has omitted numerous other pear-reviewed study They have shown that the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis is greater after contracting COVID for both vaccinated and non-vaccinated people than the risk of the same complications after vaccination alone.
O’Leary said that although some cases of myocarditis were reported to vaccinated adolescent boys and young men asked in the COVID Pandemie, the percentages fell after the two initial doses Covid vaccines were placed further apart.
Now adolescents and adults who have not been vaccinated before only one shot, and myocarditis no longer appears in the data, O’Leary said, referring to the CDCs Vaccin Safety Datalink. “There is currently no increased risk that we can identify,” he said.
In two cases, the HHS -Memo makes claims that are actively refuted Through the papers It quotes to support them. Both articles support the safety and effectiveness of Covid -vaccines for pregnant women.
The HHS -Document says that someone else paper that quotes it Found “an increase in placental blood clotting in pregnant mothers who took the vaccine.” But the paper contains no reference to placental blood clots or to pregnant women.
“I have read it three times now. And I can’t find that anywhere,” said Turrentine, the OB-Gyn Professor.
If he would judge the HHS document: “I would give this an ‘F’, Turrentine said.” This is not supported by anything and it does not use medical evidence. “
Although members of the congress who are doctors should know to check references in the newspaper, they may not take the time to do this, said Neil Silverman, A professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology that leads the infectious diseases during the pregnancy program to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “They assume that this comes from a scientific agency. So they are broken together with everyone who has had access to this document,” said Silverman.
The offices of three Republicans in the congress that are doctors who serve in house and senate committees focused on health, including senator Bill Cassidy (R-la.), Have not responded to requests for comments about whether they received the memo. Emily Druckman, communication director for Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), A doctor who participated in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, confirmed that the Schrier office received a copy of the document.
“The problem is many legislators and even their employees, they do not have the expertise to be able to separate those references,” said O’Leary. “But I have seen much better anti-vaccine propaganda than this, to be honest.”
CJ Young, deputy communication director of the Huis Energy and Commerce Committee, confirmed that Democratic Employers of the Commission received the HHS document. In the past, he said, similar documents would help clarify the justification and scope of the policy change of an administration and it could be assumed that it is scientifically accurate, Young said.
“This feels like the new site is breaking. I don’t think we have seen this level of carelessness or inattention to detail or a lack of consideration for scientific merit under the first Trump administration,” Young said.
On June 4, rep. Frank Pallone (DN.J.) and Schrier an account introduced That would require Kennedy to accept official vaccine decisions of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices or ACIP. Young said that the motivation behind the bill was Kennedy’s decision to change the COVID vaccine schedule without the import of ACIP’s vaccine experts, who play a key role in setting CDC policy on vaccine schemes and access.
Kennedy announced on 9 June on X that he would remove all 17 members of ACIP, under alleged conflicts of interest that he has not detailed and replaced. He announced eight replacements on 11 June, including people who had criticized vaccine mandates during the Covid Pandemie.
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