KENNEDY EYES VACCINE PANEL — HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is looking to remove members of outside panels that advise federal officials on vaccines, two people familiar with the planning told POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn, Lauren Gardner and David Lim. As part of a broader effort, Kennedy would replace members of committees who he believes have conflicts of interest to minimize what he sees as undue industry influence over the nation’s health agencies, said one of the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. The effort will likely target the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which plays a key role in setting vaccine policy. Kennedy and his top aides are also scrutinizing other outside panels, including those that advise the FDA. Kennedy has only just begun evaluating the advisory committees, one of the people cautioned, and hasn’t decided who or how many people will be replaced or set a firm timeline for the removals. The scrutiny comes as an ACIP meeting scheduled for next week has been canceled, according to a person familiar with the decision. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the meeting is being “postponed to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting.” “The ACIP workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present at the upcoming ACIP meeting,” Nixon said in an email. He didn’t respond to follow-up requests for comment on Kennedy’s plans to shake up the committees. A spokesperson for the CDC declined to comment. The fallout: After the ACIP meeting scheduled for next week was canceled, a coalition of public health experts, the Partnership to Fight Infectious Diseases, began circulating a sign-on letter urging Kennedy to reschedule the meeting. ERISA ASKS FOR RULE PAUSE — A large employer group suing the federal government over a rule that requires insurers to cover mental health care on par with other types of medical care is asking the federal government to pause enforcement of the rule while litigation is pending. In a letter sent to the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury this month, the ERISA Industry Committee asked federal officials not to penalize them if they don’t comply with the rule by next year, when enforcement action kicks in. The final rule, issued in September, is aimed at ensuring insurers comply with a federal law requiring them to provide mental health care on the same terms as other care — threatening big fines if they don’t. ERIC argues in the suit filed this month that the regulations are too vague and will impose cost burdens on employers that offer health benefits. An HHS spokesperson would not discuss ongoing litigation. Spokespeople for the other two departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ORGAN MODERNIZATION FEARS — Organ transplant providers, patients and families are concerned that cuts at federal health agencies could stymie a modernization of the federal organ transplantation network. Background: A bipartisan law passed during the Biden administration overhauled the 40-year-old transplantation network, which was being run by a single nonprofit, to allow for multiple vendors to tackle parts of the system, such as operations and IT. More than 100,000 patients are waiting for an organ transplant, according to federal data. In 2023, the U.S. performed more than 46,000 organ transplants. The modernization efforts started in earnest in 2023, with the next phase of vendor solicitations expected this year. However, thousands of federal probationary employees at federal health agencies were dismissed from their roles last weekend as part of efforts by the Trump administration to cut spending. Dr. Jesse Roach, senior vice president of government relations at the National Kidney Foundation, told Pulse that the cuts hit employees involved in the modernization efforts at the Health Resources and Services Administration, including staff working on data analysis. “This was a bipartisan effort to change the way we allocate organs, to get organs more efficiently, that we discard organs less … if we don’t have people working on it anymore, those things are not going to happen,” Roach said. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have been involved in oversight of the modernization. Wyden's office, in a statement to Pulse, said, “Any layoffs that impact the bipartisan effort to reform the organ transplantation system are deeply alarming and potentially life threatening. Americans deserve to know what is happening at HRSA and whether Trump and DOGE's indiscriminate actions threaten the effort to modernize this system to deliver more lifesaving organ transplants to Americans in need." Grassley's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment nor did HHS. TRANS RIGHTS ROLLBACK — A day after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered health agency policies to eliminate language on transgender and nonbinary people in their policies, the HHS Office for Civil Rights rescinded guidance on civil rights protections related to gender-affirming care. The OCR said Thursday it had pulled guidance issued by the Biden administration in 2022 in accordance with executive orders issued by President Donald Trump to limit the rights of transgender people. The 2022 guidance stated that gender-affirming care might improve physical and mental health outcomes for minors. It also cited civil rights protections in the Affordable Care Act, noting that providers who refuse to provide such care could be violating those protections.
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