Senator Murray Statement on RFK Jr.’s ACIP Voting to Further Restrict Access to COVID-19 Shots, Creating Chaos Around Vaccines

ICYMI: In Response to Murray Questioning at HELP, Former CDC Director Says She Would Be "Very Nervous" to Tell Parents to Trust Recommendations From New ACIP Panel

ICYMI: Senator Murray Calls for Inspector General Investigation into RFK Jr.'s Ousting of Top CDC Officials and Restrictions on Vaccine Access

ICYMI: Senator Murray, WA Health Secretary, Doctors Speak Out Against RFK Jr. Blocking Vaccine Access and Wreaking Havoc at CDC, Lay Out State of Vaccine Access in WA

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) vote to further restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccine at the conclusion of their two-day meeting this week. The panel also voted to delay a vote on ending a 34-year-old recommendation to administer hepatitis B vaccines at birth. Yesterday, the panel voted to no longer recommend a combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella for children under age 4. Health insurers are required to cover vaccines recommended by ACIP at no cost to patients-and when ACIP no longer recommends a vaccine, insurers are not required to cover it and people who want to get vaccinated may not be able to.

"We are living in a terrifying new world where anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists are in charge of public health, and people who lack the most basic scientific qualifications have been given tremendous power to effectively cut people off from lifesaving vaccines.

"The decision by this ACIP panel-newly reconstituted with unqualified vaccine skeptics-to limit access to COVID vaccines is deeply disturbing and not based in science. RFK Jr.'s handpicked ACIP members say this is somehow about 'individual decision-making,' but their vote today means that many Americans who want the COVID vaccine may not be able to get it. This move creates barriers for millions of Americans who may need the COVID vaccine, especially in states where local leaders have not stepped up to protect their residents as Washington state has.

"With RFK Jr. in charge at HHS, facts and evidence don't matter and vaccine misinformation continues to spread and create confusion. RFK Jr. is a malignant threat to public health and my Republican colleagues need to wake up and demand that he is fired immediately."

At a HELP committee hearing earlier this week with former CDC Director Susan Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deb Houry, Senator Murray pressed both witnesses on whether they would feel confident telling parents to trust ACIP's vaccine recommendations after U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s purged the entire panel of experts and replaced them with unqualified anti-vaccine skeptics. On Tuesday, Senator Murray requested an independent, comprehensive Inspector General review by the HHS Acting Inspector General of recent actions taken at HHS to limit access to vaccines, and recent personnel changes at the CDC.

Senator Murray, a longtime congressional leader on health care who has led hearings on addressing vaccine hesitancy, has been a leader in raising the alarm over RFK Jr.'s nomination and handling of HHS since the beginning-speaking out on the Senate floor, holding numerous events, raising the alarm after meeting with him, and hammering the threat he poses to Americans' health nonstop. She led the opposition to the Trump administration's disastrous plan to dismantle HHS and fire tens of thousands of staff in critical positions across CDC, NIH, FDA, and other agencies, and spoke out forcefully against RFK Jr.'s ousting of the entire CDC vaccine advisory board, including one ACIP member from Washington state. Senator Murray has held countless events across Washington state and in Washington, D.C. with doctors, patients, and former HHS officials to lift up how Trump and Republicans' attacks on health care will be devastating for families. Senator Murray recently took to the Senate floor to reiterate her call for RFK Jr. to be fired immediately; she also praised the launch of the West Coast Health Alliance to provide evidence-based public health guidance for Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. Last week, Senator Murray called for RFK Jr. to testify publicly before the HELP Committee and for Director Monarez to be given the opportunity to testify publicly alongside other former senior CDC officials. Last Friday, Murray held a virtual press conference with Washington state health leaders on RFK Jr.'s increasingly dangerous attacks on vaccines and America's public health infrastructure.

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