RFK Jr.’s Hand-Picked Panel of Vaccine Skeptics Votes to Undercut Access to MMRV Vaccine for Children Arrow

Today, the CDC's vaccine advisory panel revised its longstanding recommendations for the MMRV vaccine. These changes come as the country faces its highest number of measles cases since 1992 - and let's not forget that RFK Jr. visited Samoa just months before a devastating measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives.

RFK Jr. is undercutting Americans' ability to get vaccines, despite the fact that a recent poll of Republicans found that there is broad unity across party lines supporting vaccines such as measles (MMR), shingles, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (TDAP).

This announcement comes after an alarming congressional committee hearing this week during which former CDC officials told senators that RFK Jr. denied scientific evidence behind vaccines; spread dangerous misinformation at HHS; directed CDC officials to "only work with the political appointees" and "not to speak or work with the career scientists"; and said that CDC employees were horrible people who were "killing children."

In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:

"RFK Jr. has already done enough damage by fear-mongering about the health and safety of vaccines - but now he's actually making it harder or impossible for Americans to get them. Families with elderly relatives or immunocompromised loved ones - or parents who just want their kids to get vaccinated - shouldn't be turned away because RFK Jr. is hellbent on pushing dangerous misinformation that directly contradicts doctors and medical experts. When more Americans get sick, will Trump and RFK Jr. take responsibility - or just double down on their reckless lies?"

RFK Jr. is limiting who is eligible to receive vaccines just when a new report shows that much of the US doesn't have the basic immunity needed to stop the spread of deadly diseases.

Overruling scientists, RFK Jr. already limited who can get COVID-19 vaccines, signifying the federal government's most restrictive policy since the vaccines became available. At RFK Jr.'s disastrous Senate hearing recently, he falsely claimed that 'everybody can get' the COVID-19 vaccine. But that's not the case: people across the country who need the vaccine to protect themselves and their vulnerable loved ones have been deemed ineligible under the new guidance and have struggled to obtain a shot.

Pharmacies have been forced to clamp down and deny vaccines to people without a doctor's note, like a 67-year-old man and his 75-year-old wife in New York and a 55-year-old man with underlying health conditions in Texas. There are more instances: A 43-year old immunocompromised woman in Virginia, a 59-year-old husband of a woman with Stage 4 cancer who is immune-suppressed, a 64-year-old woman in Ohio who serves as the caretaker for her husband with dementia, and a 12-year-old immunocompromised girl in North Carolina. These are just some of the stories of Americans who have faced barriers to getting the vaccine or have been denied the vaccine entirely because of RFK JR.'s reckless actions.

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