The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ordered to suspend promotions that developed for a variety of vaccines, including a “wild” to mild “advertising campaign that encouraged people to be vaccinated against flu, two sources that are familiar with the decision told Stat.
The assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for Public Affairs informed the CDC that HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Instead, advertisements wanted to promote the idea of ”informed permission” in the decision -making of vaccine.
Informed permission is the principle that people must be informed of all risks, as well as benefits, of any medical intervention they receive or a medicine that they are prescribed. It is a cornerstone of the delivery of health care.
Shifting the frame of advertisements for vaccines that the CDC has long been recommended – such as flu shots – to focus more on the risks of vaccines, the willingness of people to be vaccinated or to immunize their children.
“Informed permission is always a must,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Research and Policy of the University of Minnesota for infectious diseases. But he suggested generating materials that are strongly focused on possible risks without bringing them into the context of proven benefits, the vaccination rates in the country could seriously harm.
The decision to draw flu port advertisements is an early sign of how RFK Jr. The American approach can shift to vaccinations as the best health officer in the nation. Others also came on Thursday: the influential vaccine advice committee of the CDC has postponed a meeting for next week, and Politico reported that RFK Jr. Some members of that committee and other influential public health bodies can remove because they claim that they have done that conflicts.
Stat asked HHS if the CDC was instructed to stop promotion campaigns for various vaccines, including the Wild to Mild Flu Accincincincincciation, and whether the HHS secretary wanted replacements that focus on informed permission.
In an e -mail reaction, an official did not answer the second question and denied that the CDC was told to remove his flu vaccination campaign -website -which was not asked.
“No, the CDC was not told to bring down the web page of the flu vaccination campaign,” said a spokesperson for HHS. “Unfortunately, in the CDC who are aversion of Secretary Kennedy and the agenda of President Trump, civil servants are seeming to deliberately falsify and display the guidance they receive incorrectly.”
The CDC’s own informative pages About the benefits of flu shots still remain. The materials that sources said that Stat that they were instructed to defeat were for paid promotions on other websites. Versions of those promotions were more visible on some CDC web pages, but are no longer up.
“Flu vaccination can ensure that you do not get sick from the flu,” says one of the remaining pages. “Flu vaccine prevents millions of diseases and flu -related doctor’s visits every year.”
The recording rates for a number of vaccines have fallen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemie. About 23% of adults have received an updated COVID-19 recording. And although this flu season is long -term, about 45% of people are have received a flu vaccine This season of five percentage points of the inclusion of flu shot in the pre-bodium era.
Kennedy, who has produced considerable income by challenging the safety of vaccines – by speeches, books paid, his former position as the founder and chairman of children’s health defense, and as a lawyer who suits vaccine manufacturers – repeatedly refused during his senate confirmation hearings to be distaning. From refuted claims about the safety of vaccines, such as the claim that vaccines are behind rising autism rates. At the same time, he said during the hearing that he is not against vaccines.
Although several senators expressed their concern about Kennedy’s positions on vaccines, only former senate leader Mitch McConnell (RK.Y.), a survivor of Polio, voted against Kennedy’s confirmation to the Republican side of the Chamber.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Gives serious concern about Kennedy during the hearings about his nomination. Cassidy is a doctor who strongly supports vaccination. But in the end he voted for Kennedy after he received the guarantees that Kennedy would work within the current system and not undermine vaccination efforts in the country.
The promotional campaigns that the CDC was ordered to stop modest expenses of money, a source told Stat. They include paid advertisements in digital publications or promoted messages on social media platforms, the individual said. NPR previously reported That the campaign ‘wanted to mild’ was stopped.
The advertisements contain images of fierce and less threatening animals – one a teddy bear next to a grizzly – to convey the message that even as flu vaccines infections do not always occur, people they receive are less inclined to become seriously ill and need hospital and have needed and hospital Needed to be care.
“Flu can be wild. But a flu vaccine can protect both you and your cub against the flu, more serious symptoms, “said one of the advertisements, aimed at pregnant people. “Ask your caregiver for a flu shot during your pregnancy to protect your baby after birth – if they are too young to be vaccinated.”
Other repetitions of the campaign were aimed at parents, adults with chronic conditions, people older than 65 and healthcare professionals.
In the materials that can be visible A now scrubbed webpage There was no discussion about risks of flu shots.
There are few side effects due to flu vaccination and they are reported – things such as reactions from injection locations, headache and fatigue – are short -lived. In some, although not all years, flu vaccination seems to be linked to a slightly higher risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndromeA form of progressive and generally temporary paralysis. In the seasons in which an increase in GBS has been seen, it was administered at a speed of approximately one or two extra cases per million doses of flu vaccine.
It is known that infected with the flu also increases the risk of developing GBS. Enduring that people are aware of the risks of vaccines before they are received is one of the six parts of a vaccine safety plan that RFK Jr. already published in 2023. , people receive printed information with the risks of vaccines before they or their children are immunized, and advertisements for specific vaccines are required to disclose side effects.