Ga. public health board chair: RFK Jr.’s disruptions are creating barriers to Covid shots

Georgia Masses Strength Commissioner Kathleen Toomey speaks August at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta Rebecca Grapevine Healthbeat Georgia Board of General Robustness Chairperson James Curran criticized Vitality and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr s disruption of a vaccine guidance system that was working well As far as I can tell a major goal is to diminish the CDC role in vaccines in a lot of means Curran reported at Tuesday s board meeting Kennedy removed members of the Centers for Affection Control and Prevention s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with his own appointees The panel typically provides Covid vaccine recommendations for the fall respiratory season earlier in the summer but did not do so this year The U S Food and Drug Administration last month approved the updated shots but only for those and older and those with underlying conditions that put them at liability for severe Covid That has prompted plenty of Georgia pharmacies to require a prescription to get the latest Covid shots with certain doctors refusing to write prescriptions until the ACIP meets Sept - Curran who was a longtime dean of the Rollins School of Masses Healthcare at Emory University disclosed this has created confusion and introduced fences to getting the shots disrupting a system that had worked well The whole idea that everyone has a professional is not true Curran stated Department of Residents Fitness Commissioner Kathleen Toomey who was appointed by Republican Gov Brian Kemp as were the nine board members explained the agency has paused distributing this year s Covid vaccines amid regulatory uncertainty at least until the ACIP meets She mentioned the decision was guided by concerns over physiological liability in the wake of the FDA s narrowing of the categories of people for whom the shot is approved Robustness departments do not yet have the shots in stock she commented Toomey noted she met with Kemp to discuss how the state will approach Covid vaccines Four states California Oregon Washington and Hawaii have formed an alliance to provide residents with science-backed vaccine recommendations Governors of other states have also taken procedures such as issuing executive orders to make it easier for their residents to get vaccines amid the regulatory confusion Toomey mentioned the agency would look at the ACIP s recommendations and make a decision about how Georgia wellness departments will handle the Covid shots The agency may consider following guidelines from another organization like the American Academy of Pediatrics if the ACIP guidelines don t follow good science Curran also criticized Kennedy s focus on processed food as a cause of chronic infection even as the HHS chief has cut programs that help prevent chronic diseases like those focused on stopping smoking That decision has impacted Georgia DPH has ended the Georgia Tobacco Use Prevention Project due to a lack of ongoing federal funding and the closure of the CDC s Office of Smoking and Robustness state Department of General Vitality spokesperson Nancy Nydam Shirek announced That resulted in the layoffs of five people working on the initiative as well as the reassignment of an epidemiologist to another unit she disclosed DPH s core tobacco and vaping prevention and cessation programs are continuing uninterrupted including Tobacco-Free Schools and the Georgia Tobacco Quitline Nydam Shirek noted The state also lost million in March after the federal regime clawed back Covid-era funding Curran explained he anticipates additional funding cuts It s a distressing time for inhabitants soundness at the federal level and it s going to have implications at the state and local levels he reported Meanwhile an administrator who was laid off from the CDC was hired as director of the state population soundness laboratory a position that had been open for years Toomey reported Ellen Kersh started the job on July after leaving the CDC where she had been the STD Laboratory branch chief Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering community soundness published by Civic News Company and KFF Soundness News Sign up for their newsletters here The post Ga society healthcare board chair RFK Jr s disruptions are creating obstacles to Covid shots appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta