Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's federal vaccine board, saying it was necessary to deal with a panel that had become a "rubber stamp" for vaccines. He asserts that the move will "re-establish public confidence in vaccine science."
But the dismissed members disagree. They published an editorial Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Assocation saying that RFK Jr. has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened."
The vaccine board is a bipartisan panel of scientists and experts that determines the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, and votes on recommendations regarding who gets these shots. Then the director of the CDC has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations. Currently, the role of the CDC director sits empty.
Now the medical community and public health officials are ringing the alarms for what this could mean for vaccine availability, insurance coverage and for vaccine rates among children.
On Wednesday's "Sound of Ideas," we'll have a conversation about this latest move with our local experts.
Later in this hour, we'll air the next installment of our "Living for We: Keep Ya Head Up" podcast. This week's episode, the tenth of 11, explores the devastating impact a stray bullet has had on a young Cleveland woman's life. The bullet hit Makayla Barlow in the head as she drove home from work in 2021. She spent a month in a coma and still struggles with some of the damage caused by the bullet.
Also in this episode, we will hear from a former Cleveland doctor who started a hospital-based anti-violence program to support young gunshot survivors.
Guests:
- Tara Smith, Ph.D., College of Public Health, Kent State University
- Amy Edwards, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Disease Expert
-Marlene Harris-Taylor, Co-Host, Director of Engaged Journalism, Ideastream Public Media
- Myesha Watkins, Co-Host, Executive Director, Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance
- Makayla Barlow, Injured by stray bullet
- Natasha Lovelace, Makayla's mother
- Edward Barksdale, M.D., Chief Surgical Officer for Chicagoland Children's Health Alliance
