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Amid growing unease within the medical community, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has initiated an extensive review into deaths that may be connected to COVID-19 vaccines, a spokesperson for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said.
The development follows President Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Kennedy Jr, a long-time vaccine sceptic, as health secretary, a move that has already set off major shifts in US vaccine policy.
Andrew Nixon, spokesperson for the health and human services department, confirmed the ongoing inquiry. “FDA is doing a thorough investigation across multiple age groups of deaths potentially related to COVID vaccines,” he told AFP, after Bloomberg and the Washington Post reported on the probe.
Scope widens following FDA memo
According to reports, the review was initially expected to centre on possible child deaths but has since broadened. Controversy escalated in late November when an internal FDA document was leaked, with the memo claiming that COVID-19 vaccines were linked to at least 10 infant deaths, despite offering no accompanying data. Nixon declined to outline how the FDA is conducting the review, which information is being assessed or when results may be made public.
Health authorities worldwide continue to reiterate that the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines have been extensively studied. While rare serious side effects have been identified, experts note that these instances do not outweigh the benefits for most people.
Concerns mount over political influence in health policy
The Trump administration’s recent steps, including changes to the CDC advisory panel and a shift towards an anti-vaccine stance, have raised concerns that political considerations are beginning to overshadow scientific assessment. Medical experts have voiced apprehension over the direction of the FDA under Kennedy’s leadership.
Kennedy has a lengthy history of promoting vaccine misinformation. In 2023, he labelled COVID-19 vaccines as deadly and made unsubstantiated claims that the virus was “targeted” to harm Black and White populations while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
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