Tag: vaccines

Pentagon Ends Flu Vaccine Mandate for Reservists, But Not Active Duty Troops

The Pentagon revised its flu vaccine policy for some, but not all, service members, according to a May 29 memo, first reported on today by The Associated Press.

Under the revised policy, reserve members, which include the National Guard, aren’t mandated to get the flu shot unless they are called to active duty for 30 consecutive days or more. If they choose to get the vaccine, the U.S. Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) won’t compensate them for their time and expense.

Active-duty service members are still required to get the vaccine.

According to the memo by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg:

“All Active Component Service members are required to receive the annual seasonal influenza immunization or obtain an exemption (i.e., medical or administrative). Reserve Component Service members activated for 30 consecutive days or more are required to receive the seasonal influenza immunization or obtain an exemption. During an outbreak, pandemic influenza immunizations will be required or recommended as appropriate, depending on the immunization’s regulatory status at the time of the outbreak.”

A Pentagon official today confirmed that they changed the policy, telling The Defender:

“On May 29, 2025, the Department released updated policy guidance on seasonal influenza immunizations, reflecting common-sense revisions to existing requirements.

“There are no changes to policy for active-duty Service members, who are still required to receive the annual flu vaccine. Likewise, requirements for civilian employees will continue to be based on occupational risk for contagion and spread. For example, all healthcare workers are required to receive the flu vaccine.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth drew attention to the May memo on Wednesday when he retweeted a celebratory post from a National Guard member who said, “I found out today that for the first time in over a decade, I won’t be forced to get a flu shot this fall for the privilege of serving my state and country.”

Military flight surgeon Lt. Col. Theresa Long told The Defender that service members are still trying to get clear information about the COVID-19 vaccine and the full implications of its impact on the health of service members.

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RFK Jr. Considering Adding Autism Symptoms To Vaccine Injury Program

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is looking at updating symptoms after vaccination that are eligible for compensation under a federal program, an adviser said on Sept. 25.

“We have a team looking at … a way to capture these kids,” Andrew Downing, senior policy adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told an autism roundtable in Washington.

“Do we broaden the definition of encephalopathic events? Do we broaden neurological injuries? How do we do that?

“I was hoping that the changes to the program might have been rolled out before today, so that I could talk more in depth about them. As you can imagine, it’s not my place to do the rollout.”

Downing is a lawyer who has represented individuals seeking compensation from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

The program was established by Congress to award damages to those who suffer vaccine-related injuries. He joined the HHS after Kennedy took office in February.

Kennedy said over the summer that the program would be revolutionized, including by addressing the lack of discovery.

The program has an enormous backlog of thousands of cases, just eight special masters who are able to adjudicate cases, and a table of eligible injuries that critics argue is too small.

Downing told the crowd on Thursday that when he first began filing cases with the program, encephalopathy cases could be approved for compensation if there was supportive medical literature. In rare cases, lawyers would have to bring in an expert.

The definition was changed in the 1990s, “making it almost impossible for a family to prevail,” he said.

The Department of Justice, which represents the HHS in cases filed with the program, later made it even harder to win some cases, according to Downing.

One change that should happen is that in borderline cases, compensation should be awarded to injured people, Downing said.

“That is how the vaccine program was originally designed, and it’s been hijacked, for lack of a better word. Hopefully not for much longer,” he added.

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The Vaccine Schedule Finally Under Fire

Well, Donald Trump did it. He scheduled a news conference on the science of autism, what we know and what we do not, and handled it masterfully. He is profoundly aware that as a parent and the president of the United States that he can make points that his own science advisors cannot make for reasons political, sociological, and scientific.

Trump, however, knows that expecting mothers and families still have to make decisions and those decisions could affect the health and well-being of their children for the rest of their lives. Nothing is more important. Meanwhile, autism is an epidemic. Something is causing this.

There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. Nor is this traceable to changed definitions of the term else we would see a growing distribution among adults too, which we do not. FDA head Marty Makary, normally very cautious and careful in his statements, said the straightforward thing that no one has stated as clearly: autism is preventable.

Though Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jay Bhattacharya, and Mehmet Oz were there and speaking, it was Trump who bravely took the burden upon himself to say what vast numbers of parents and doctors suspect and know but have heretofore occupied the realm of forbidden thought. He laid out two main culprits: Tylenol for birthing mothers and infants and the packed vaccine schedule that hits tiny babies with a cocktail of shots that have never been studied in their combined effects.

Trump was extremely clear.

Don’t take Tylenol. Also the schedule should be changed so that each shot is a separate vaccine spaced out over years. Further, some shots like HepB should wait until the age of 12 if they are taken at all. This would mean no more MMR, much less an MMRV shot that adds chickenpox to the soup. It would mean one shot for measles, one for mumps, one for rubella, and so on.

The products do not currently exist in that form. The whole trajectory has been to batch them up and this happened at the same time we’ve seen an explosion in autism cases. It is not a stretch at all to assume a connection. And Trump explained the stories of so many mothers, more than half, who report dramatic and immediate behavioral and cognitive changes following a vaccine.

These people have been gaslighted for 40 years. They have been called all sorts of terrible names. The scientists who have taken up their case have been shut out of academia, professional societies, journals, and been declared nonpersons. But they never relented. Trump has personally agreed with them for 20 years, a dating of his own. He and Kennedy have long had private discussions about it.

The entire field is a landmine filled with dangers both cultural and industrial. At some point, Trump realized that if anyone was going to break the logjam on this topic, it would need to be him. So he did it, and went much further than anyone—I mean anyone!—expected.

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Three NHS admin workers who made £412k selling fake Covid 19 vaccine records during lockdown are jailed for 10 years

A trio of NHS workers who made £412k by selling fake Covid 19 vaccination records have been jailed for 10 years.

Hakeem Walters, 29, Rokibul Islam, 31, and Muhammed Ahmed, 27, made their fortune while employed as administrators in Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford.

They falsified records for 847 people at the Covid clinic to allow them to escape government lockdown rules and to travel abroad, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Kathryn Drummond, prosecuting, said: ‘They ultimately make profits at the expense of the wider public at a time of national crisis, namely the Covid pandemic.

‘Each of them held a position of trust at the relevant time as an employee within the NHS.

‘They falsified 1,648 vaccine records relating to 847 individuals. They did so for profit.

‘That enabled those 847 people to enjoy additional freedom in times of lockdown, freedoms reserved for those vaccinated against Covid-19.’

The trio charged people £250 each for fake vaccine records.

Islam had access to the National Immunisation Vaccination System (NIVS), the court heard.

‘Mr Islam sold his confidential login details to Mr Ahmed for £1,000,’ Ms Drummond said.

Ms Drummond added Islam began his work as a Band 3 administrator and clerical bank worker for the vaccine project in June 2021.

‘Every single vaccine record associated with his login was false. He began his work in the NHS at a time of crisis. He obtained wide access. He sold wider access for one thousand pounds. He never created any true or honest vaccination’, she said.

Once the entries were submitted the NHS Covid-19 App showed people were fully vaccinated.

‘That would enable them to travel, attend certain venues, apply for work, jobs that had restrictions in place,’ the prosecutor added.

Sentencing, Judge Sally-Ann Hales said: ‘Between August 17 and December 13 2021 you conspired to hack the NHS computer system to create false Covid vaccination records. You did so to make a financial gain for yourselves.

‘The evidence indicates that these conspiracies involved more people than just you three.

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FDA Considering Independent Evaluation for DNA Contamination in COVID-19 Vaccines

The Food and Drug Administration is mulling over conducting its own evaluation of the levels of DNA in COVID-19 vaccines, an FDA official has disclosed.

“I’ll say that that is something that’s being discussed,” Dr. Tracy Hoeg, a senior adviser to the FDA’s commissioner, told members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel on Sept. 19.

Before the panel’s members unanimously recommended during the meeting that the CDC roll back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, a number expressed concerns about growing evidence of higher-than-allowed levels of DNA in the vaccines, the spreadofthevaccinebeyond the injection site, and the long-term persistence of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)—a key part of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots.

The CDC has described mRNA as the entity teaching cells how to make copies of the spike protein to enable protection when the real virus, with its own spike protein, attacks the body. “After the mRNA delivers the instructions, your cells break it down and get rid of it,” a CDC graphic states.

Retsef Levi, chair of the advisory panel’s COVID-19 immunization workgroup, showed the graphic during the meeting.

“We have a range of things on the mRNA platforms that really suggests that it doesn’t work as intended,” Levi said, citing issues such as the spread of spike protein and mRNA into various parts of the body and “DNA contamination.”

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Vaccine panel avoids big changes to childhood immunizations, COVID shots

The panel that develops vaccine recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposed one change to childhood immunizations but tabled a vote for another before turning their attention to the hotly debated COVID-19 vaccines.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices continued its two-day meeting Friday after voting Thursday to recommend a standalone chickenpox vaccination in toddlers to reduce their risk of febrile seizures.

A combination MMRV vaccine is available, which includes measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) immunizations.

All of those vaccines are recommended for kids at 12 months and again between 4 and 6 years.

The panel recommended a separate MMR and chickenpox shot for children on the initial doses.

The panel on Friday decided to table a vote on delaying the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, which is currently recommended at birth.

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CDC panel votes to push back MMRV vaccine recommendation to 4 years old

The vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted Thursday in favor of delaying the administration of the vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox), commonly called the MMRV. 

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to vote on three questions during Thursday’s meeting. Five of the members were appointed to the committee just this week. 

First, the panel was asked to consider whether the MMRV vaccine should not be recommended for children younger than 4. The panel voted 8-3 to approve the change, with one member abstaining.  

This vote would have meant that children who receive their vaccinations through the Vaccines For Children federal program will not be able to receive the MMRV shot until they’re 4 years old. The committee voted, however, in a follow-up motion against aligning the VFC with the recommendation, changing nothing in terms of what the program covers for the time being.

Children can normally get the MMRV vaccine beginning at 12 months of age.

ACIP members Hillary Blackburn, Cody Meissner and Joseph Hibbeln were the three members to vote no on the recommendation.

The panel decided to delay the votes on hepatitis B vaccine guidance until Friday, when they will also vote on COVID-19 vaccine guidance.

The meeting Thursday was tense, with panel members very aware of the heightened attention on their vote following the firing and resignation of top CDC officials and the growing scrutiny of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Capitol Hill. 

“We are currently experiencing heated controversies about vaccines. And a key question is, who can you trust? Here’s my advice, when there are different scientific views, only trust scientists who are willing to engage with and publicly debate the scientists with other views,” ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorff said at the start of the meeting. 

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RFK Jr’s hand-picked CDC advisory panel recommends against combo vaccine for kids 

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s overhauled vaccine panel voted on Thursday to no longer recommend a combination shot protecting against chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella for young children. 

In an 8-3 vote, with one member abstaining, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) decided against recommending the MMRV vaccine for children under the age of 4. 

The panel, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on which vaccines to recommend to the American public, said children younger than 4 should instead be immunized for varicella (the virus that causes chickenpox) separately from a combined shot for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). 

Concerns over the rare risk of fever-induced seizures related to MMRV vaccines were brought up by some members of the panel. 

Committee member Dr. Cody Meissner, who voted to continue recommending the MMRV vaccine for young children, described so-called “febrile seizures” as “a very frightening experience” for parents during the ACIP meeting. 

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RFK Jr. vaccine advisers to examine shots during pregnancy

A panel of federal vaccine advisers appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will launch a new review on the use of vaccines during pregnancy, the panel’s chair said.  

Martin Kulldorff, a statistician and former Harvard professor who chairs the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), made the announcement at the start of Thursday’s meeting, where panelists will consider recommendations related to the pediatric vaccine schedule, including hepatitis B. 

The panel is set to vote later Thursday on changing the current recommendation that infants receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. 

Another working group will examine the vaccines given between childhood and adolescence, Kulldorff said. 

Most of the working groups consider a singular vaccine or group of related vaccines, Kulldorff noted, not broad categories or the entire concept of a vaccine schedule. 

Thursday’s meeting comes after a tense Senate hearing Wednesday where former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified she was fired after refusing to rubber-stamp the panel’s recommendations before they were made. Kennedy handpicked the panelists, many of whom are critical about vaccinations, after firing their predecessors 

In his opening remarks, Kulldorff challenged nine former heads of the CDC to a public debate on vaccination, after they accused him and the panelists of being unqualified and of spreading “dangerous and unscientific views.”  

“False accusations that we and other respectable vaccine scientists are unscientific and dangerous anti-vaxxers, that just adds legitimacy to anti-vax positions, damaging both public health and the confidence in vaccines,” Kulldorff said.  

Kulldorff said if the former directors won’t have a debate, they shouldn’t be trusted. 

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RFK Jr. Plans to Change Childhood Vaccine Schedule, Ousted CDC Director Says

Susan Monarez said during a Senate Health Committee hearing in Washington that Kennedy said during an Aug. 25 meeting that the childhood vaccine schedule would be changed in September.

“We got into an exchange where I had suggested I would be open to changing childhood vaccine schedules if the evidence or science were supportive, and he responded that there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule,” Monarez said.

“Any potential changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will be based on the latest available science and only after the ACIP recommends it and the Acting CDC Director reviews and approves those recommendations,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Monarez said, “The childhood vaccine schedule has been vetted and validated through science and evidence.”

Every vaccine on the schedule is important, she said.

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