HHS Reinstates Childhood Vaccine Safety Task Force After CHD Lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that it has reinstated the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, a federal panel created by Congress to improve vaccine safety for children. The move comes just one day before HHS faced a deadline to respond to a lawsuit accusing Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of violating federal law by failing to set up the task force after taking office.
The suit, filed in May by attorney Ray Flores and funded by Children’s Health Defense (CHD), argued that Kennedy had not met the requirements of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. The law requires the HHS secretary to form a task force that promotes vaccine safety and to report its progress to Congress every two years.
Flores called the reinstatement a victory. “This is a great day for children and a great day for CHD,” he told The Defender. He said he plans to file a dismissal without prejudice, leaving the option open to refile if HHS fails to follow through.
CHD CEO Mary Holland praised the development. “We are grateful to Secretary Kennedy for fulfilling his duty under the 1986 act. It took nearly 30 years for HHS to do this, but at last, we have an HHS secretary who is following the law on this vital issue.”
The 1986 law requires the health secretary to serve on the task force alongside the FDA commissioner, the NIH director, and the CDC director. Yet according to Flores, no secretary has ever reported to Congress on vaccine safety improvements in the law’s 35-year history.
This isn’t the first time Kennedy has been involved in the issue. In 2018, while working as a lawyer, he and attorney Aaron Siri sued HHS for copies of the required biennial reports. The case revealed that no such reports had ever been submitted. While a task force was initially formed in 1990, it was disbanded in 1998 without producing any public reports.
The law also allows citizens to sue the HHS secretary if the requirements are not met — a rarely used provision that Flores leveraged in filing his case. Holland credited him for setting the change in motion, saying it proves citizens can hold federal agencies accountable.
At the end of July, Kennedy requested a two-week extension to respond to the lawsuit. Today, just before that deadline, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced the reinstatement, saying:
“By reinstating this Task Force, we are reaffirming our commitment to rigorous science, continuous improvement, and the trust of American families. NIH is proud to lead this effort to advance vaccine safety and support innovation that protects children without compromise.”
The Task Force will work with the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee to recommend improvements in vaccine development, production, distribution, and adverse reaction reporting — with a goal of creating vaccines that cause fewer and less severe side effects.
DailyClout.IO will continue to follow this story.
Sources:
https://www.defender.com/hhs-reinstates-childhood-vaccine-safety-task-force/
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-reinstates-task-force-on-safer-childhood-vaccines/
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general-recs/index.html
https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/vaccine-safety
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10339253/
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