Richard H. Hughes, IV, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in The 74, in “Experts Dissect What Confusing New Vax Rules Could Mean for Kids, Parents,” by Amanda Geduld.
Following is an excerpt:
The committee that sets national vaccine recommendations voted to change policies surrounding two major childhood inoculations after gathering last week for two days of contentious and chaotic meetings.
The 12 members, who were recently handpicked by controversial Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also debated overturning decades of established practice around hepatitis B shots for newborns, though they ultimately tabled that vote.
The other two shots in play were the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) combination vaccine, also known as MMRV, and this year’s COVID 19 booster. …
Richard Hughes, a George Washington University law professor and leading vaccine law expert, said the committee appears to be using the practice known as “shared clinical decision making,” because it “gets at that medical freedom rhetoric — and provides an option other than ‘no recommendation’ — but is not a good option.”
While this sort of policy sounds like it’s creating greater choice, ultimately evidence shows it leads to struggles for health care providers who haven’t been given clear risk factors, Hughes said. This can be cumbersome, time consuming and lead to patient distrust.
“When you know that it’s an automatic ‘you should get it’ that’s different than ‘I don’t know, it’s kind of murky,’” he added. …
