{"id":1056068,"date":"2025-09-18T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T01:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056068"},"modified":"2025-09-19T09:14:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T13:14:40","slug":"rfk-jr-s-hand-picked-panel-of-vaccine-skeptics-votes-to-undercut-access-to-mmrv-vaccine-for-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/rfk-jr-s-hand-picked-panel-of-vaccine-skeptics-votes-to-undercut-access-to-mmrv-vaccine-for-children\/","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr.\u2019s Hand-Picked Panel of Vaccine Skeptics Votes to Undercut Access to MMRV Vaccine for Children\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel revised<\/a> its longstanding recommendations for the MMRV vaccine. These changes come as the country faces its highest number of measles cases<\/a> since 1992 \u2014 and let\u2019s not forget that RFK Jr. visited Samoa<\/a> just months before a devastating measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RFK Jr. is undercutting<\/a> Americans\u2019 ability to get vaccines, despite the fact that a recent poll<\/a> of Republicans found that there is broad unity across party lines supporting vaccines such as measles (MMR), shingles, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (TDAP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This announcement comes after an alarming congressional committee hearing this week during which former CDC officials told senators that RFK Jr. denied<\/a> scientific evidence behind vaccines; spread<\/a> dangerous misinformation at HHS; directed<\/a> CDC officials to \u201conly work with the political appointees\u201d and \u201cnot to speak or work with the career scientists\u201d; and said that CDC employees were horrible people who were \u201ckilling children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRFK Jr. has already done enough damage by fear-mongering about the health and safety of vaccines \u2014 but now he\u2019s actually making it harder or impossible for Americans to get them. Families with elderly relatives or immunocompromised loved ones \u2014 or parents who just want their kids to get vaccinated \u2014 shouldn\u2019t 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 \u2014 or just double down on their reckless lies?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RFK Jr. is limiting who is eligible to receive vaccines just when a new report<\/a> shows that much of the US doesn’t have the basic immunity needed to stop the spread of deadly diseases.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overruling scientists<\/a>, RFK Jr. already limited<\/a> who can get COVID-19 vaccines, signifying the federal government\u2019s most restrictive policy<\/a> since the vaccines became available. At RFK Jr.\u2019s disastrous Senate hearing recently, he falsely claimed<\/a> that \u2018everybody can get\u2019 the COVID-19 vaccine. But that\u2019s not the case<\/a>: 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pharmacies have been forced to clamp down and deny vaccines to people without a doctor\u2019s note, like a 67-year-old man and his 75-year-old wife in New York<\/a> and a 55-year-old man with underlying health conditions in Texas.  There are more instances: A 43-year old immunocompromised woman<\/a> in Virginia, a 59-year-old husband<\/a> 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<\/a> in North Carolina. These are just some<\/a> of the stories of Americans who have faced barriers to getting the vaccine or have been denied the vaccine entirely because of RFK JR.\u2019s reckless actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u2014 and let\u2019s not forget that RFK Jr. visited Samoa just months before a devastating measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives.  RFK Jr. is undercutting Americans\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRFK Jr.\u2019s Hand-Picked Panel of Vaccine Skeptics Votes to Undercut Access to MMRV Vaccine for Children\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/rfk-jr-s-hand-picked-panel-of-vaccine-skeptics-votes-to-undercut-access-to-mmrv-vaccine-for-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T01:13:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T13:14:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/rfk-jr-s-hand-picked-panel-of-vaccine-skeptics-votes-to-undercut-access-to-mmrv-vaccine-for-children\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/rfk-jr-s-hand-picked-panel-of-vaccine-skeptics-votes-to-undercut-access-to-mmrv-vaccine-for-children\/\",\"name\":\"RFK Jr.\u2019s Hand-Picked Panel of Vaccine Skeptics Votes to Undercut Access to MMRV Vaccine for Children\u00a0 - 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