#MikePence also said he sees some of #Trump’s actions as sharp breaks from what he thought were the successes of their admin. That includes “wavering support for #Ukraine” in its war w/ #Russia & “marginalizing the right to life” that #Pence said followed #RFKJr’s selection as #HHS secy.

…watching Trump’s return to #power from the sidelines, Pence said he plans to make a public case on those issues—in part so that Trump might hear arguments those in his WH aren’t making.

Archer also asked to know what adjuvants & platforms are being used for all the #vaccines discussed at the #ACIP meeting, & their length of immunity.

#RFKJr is currently reviewing the latest ACIP recommendations in the absence of a #CDC director, & it is unclear whether the #HHS secretary will ultimately sign off on them.

The decision will impact #PublicHealth & major drug companies.

…As part of his #HHS role, Archer has in recent days posed questions to the #CDC about the advisory cmte recommendations, acc/to the documents & 2 sources.

One recommendation would expand eligibility for #RSV #vaccines made by Pfizer & GSK to #HighRisk adults aged 50-59 from a current threshold age of at least 60 yrs.

In response, Archer asked for more justification of the expansion given what he described as a “possible decline in efficacy with a second dose.”…

Dr. William “Reyn” Archer III joined #HHS, which oversees #CDC, as a counselor in the secy's office after #RFKJr took over in Feb, records show. A critic of #vaccines on social media for the past several yrs, Archer served as TX state #health commissioner in the late 1990s.

…His role reviewing the Advisory Cmte on #Immunization Practices’ recommendations is the latest indication of how RFKJr, who has spent decades raising doubts about the safety & efficacy of vaccines, is reshaping US #policy.

Oh that's just what the Department of Health and Human Services needed: another crank winger quack with a literal body count working to "protect" the health of Americans.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/05/covid-hydroxychloroquine-steve-hatfill

US scientist who touted hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid named to pandemic prevention role

"A proponent of using the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 despite scant evidence of its efficacy has been named to a top pandemic prevention role at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Washington Post reports.

Steven J Hatfill is a virologist who served in Donald Trump’s first administration, during which he promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus in the early months of the pandemic, when vaccines and treatments were not yet available. He recently started as a special adviser in the office of the director of the administration for strategic preparedness and response, which prepares the country to respond to pandemics, as well as chemical and biological attacks.

The Trump administration embraced using the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, along with other drugs such as ivermectin and chloroquine, as treatments against Covid-19, despite concerns over both their efficacy and potentially serious side-effects. In June 2020, just months after the pandemic started, the Food and Drug Administration warned against using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat Covid-19 over “reports of serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues”, even after Trump approved ordering millions of doses of the drug for US patients from Brazil."

For those of you who don't remember the pandemic response during Trump's first term, the hydroxychoroquine scandal hit national headlines when after the Kelpto Kaiser promoted a version of the drug as a preventative medicine that could stop the spread of Covid, an Arizona couple in their 60's drank some fish tank cleaner that had similar chemicals in it and one of them literally died. Trump skated by because he was president and he didn't actually tell anyone to drink fish tank cleaner, but his promotion of the drug was criticized by the FDA at the time and there's no question that Trump's factually unsupported recommendation got someone killed. Now the quack scientist who told Trump hydroxychoroquine could safely treat Covid, is back in a special advisor's role to the government's response team for pandemics, as well as chemical and biological attacks.

It's objectively hard to tell if Hatfill's appointment is more about Trump's attempts to force his critics to say he was always right about everything even when his nonsense got someone killed, RFK Jr's quest to transform HHS into a haven for grifter Covid quacks who support alternatives to vaccines, or a general class war effort by the regime to neglect anything that helps poor people survive disasters; frankly, it might be all three. Regardless of the motivations here however, the objective truth is that appointing a guy like Hatfill to the pandemic response team represents a clear and obvious danger to the health of Americans.

The suit asks Judge Melissa R. DuBose, a federal judge in Rhode Island, to reject the entire reorganization of the #HHS laid out in the March 27 memo as #unconstitutional, & to halt the #layoffs of tens of thousands of employees, which it says will obviously harm state #health programs.

Like a number of the other challenges filed, the lawsuit claims the #Trump admin usurped #Congress’s authority to set spending & fund programs it has authorized. The suit adds that the decision to lay off the staff of entire programs, & move the #HHS away from its traditional role & rooting in #medical #science, was abrupt, arbitrary & in violation of the #law.

The lawsuit chronicles a monthslong effort to chip away at #HHS’s functions, leading up to a policy memo released on March 27, which “collapsed 28 agencies into 15” & shuttered half of its regional offices across the country.

Among other changes, the policy memo highlighted #RFKJr’s goal of refocusing the dept’s core #scientific functions on “ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, & the elimination of environmental toxins.”

The lawsuit follows the release of #Trump’s #budget outline last week, in which he sought to enlist #Congress in his effort to reduce #HHS’s overall footprint & scope by slashing billions from its budget.

The lawsuit’s scope is broad, taking aim at the larger #PublicHealth agenda laid out by #RFKJr, the #health secy. His priorities include reorienting the #HHS around his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, conducting sweeping #layoffs & changing #vaccine-approval practices, a move that has alarmed & baffled many health experts.