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HHS Revives Childhood Vaccine Safety Task Force, Names Bhattacharya Chair

Set to deliver its first report to Congress in two years, the panel’s composition of senior NIH, FDA, CDC officials follows a lawsuit that compelled its revival after advisory committee shake-ups

A young child receives a Moderna Covid-19 6 months to 5 years vaccination at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, Massachusetts on June 21, 2022. The temple was one of the first sites in the state to offer vaccinations to anyone in the public.. US health authorities on Saturday cleared the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for children aged five and younger, in a move President Joe Biden greeted as a "monumental step" in the fight against the virus. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
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Kennedy during an August event on food policy. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
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Overview

  • The task force was reinstated on August 14 with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya as chair and senior officials from FDA and CDC on board, and HHS plans to announce additional members soon.
  • It is charged with advising on the development and refinement of childhood vaccines to reduce and mitigate adverse reactions, enhancing adverse-event reporting and supporting safety research.
  • Under a two-year timeline, the panel will deliver its first formal report to Congress and continue to provide biennial updates, coordinating its work with the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines and the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
  • The reconstitution fulfilled a May lawsuit funded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s former advocacy group, Children’s Health Defense, which argued for enforcement of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.
  • Critics caution that the move, following Kennedy’s June overhaul of the CDC’s immunization advisory committee, could presage changes to the federal childhood immunization schedule and erode public trust in existing vaccines.