It's Time to Call the Senate; It's Not Just About Novavax Anymore, We Have to Protect All Vaccines.
The more we learn about RFK Jr.'s plans for ACIP, the worse it gets.
Update: It looks like we just saved all vaccines, for at least a little bit.
Senator Bill Cassidy has called for the meeting to be cancelled for all the same reasons outlined in this article.
Remember, activism works… but we aren’t done yet.
Please call or send faxes as outlined to ensure this doesn’t happen, and cannot move forward until a confirmed CDC director is in place.
(Original article begins here.)
I’m not going to waste anyone’s time.
RFK Jr.’s plans for the upcoming ACIP are… well, it’s just a “who’s who” of anti-vaxxer conspiracies with a stacked kangaroo court of sycophants, after having dismantled all the safeguards, oversight, and expertise typically required to make these decisions.
We need to call Senators on the HELP committee to shut down the upcoming ACIP.
You probably already know that RFK Jr. fired the entire ACIP and stacked the committee with ideologues who are not being adequately approved by any measure.
It should take months to approve these roles, and there’s no way to do it this fast.
But there is also no Senate-approved CDC director, a requirement only started in 2022.
RFK Jr. also removed the oversight officer; his scheduler will handle that role instead.
So, he has removed all the oversight mechanisms, leaving him as the sole power.
Usually, I would have to spend a lot of time convincing you, the reader, that there is a problem. However, not only is this straightforward, but MANY articles are being published to explain this problem in great detail this time.
I don’t think this will harm Novavax access, but it’s not just about that…
And it never was.
So, what’s going on?
Although what they're trying to do is a huge problem, technically, they can do it.
However, how they are trying to do it is the bigger issue.
It’s like a kid caught lying, and they tell more lies to cover up the last one, until they end up just creating an alternate dimension to live in…
And that’s really true here.
First, they made the COVID recommendation without ACIP, and rather than just secure ACIP voting, they wiped the whole committee and went full anti-vaxxer.
And make no mistake, this meeting is set to be two days of anti-vaxxer tropes.
This meeting cannot happen, and that doesn’t give us many options as the public.
The closest we can come to directly affecting some oversight mechanism is to pressure the HELP committee and its surrounding Senate members to call an immediate hearing regarding RFK Jr. and his changes being made for ACIP.
We’ve already had people calling all week, and some appetite exists for this.
There are people in power already calling for this, but it just needs a bit more.
The HELP committee is currently led by Bill Cassidy, the same Cassidy who is not only one of four physicians in the Senate, but also who RFK Jr. promised that he would not radically change ACIP.
I’m unsure if that’s perjury, but I can confidently say he lied.
We want to contact Cassidy’s office, other members of the HELP committee, and your personal sitting Senator.
If you are contacting someone on a specific committee, anyone can call any Senator. However, if it is a more general vote, you want to call your own.
But no one’s stopping you from calling them all anyway.
We call these lines Today and Monday, and on Saturday and Sunday, we will fax.
(Fax numbers are still being verified at the time of publishing.)
Contacts to the Senate HELP Committee Members:
Bill Cassidy (R-LA, Chairman) (202) 224-5824
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (202) 224-5141
Patty Murray (D-WA) (202) 224-2621
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) (202) 224-5653
Christopher Murphy (D-CT) (202) 224-4041
Tim Kaine (D-VA) (202) 224-4024
Maggie Hassan (D-NH) (202) 224-3324
John Hickenlooper (D-CO) (202) 224-5941
Ed Markey (D-MA) (202) 224-2742
Andy Kim (D-NJ) (202) 224-4744
Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) (202) 224-2441
Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) (202) 224-4524
Rand Paul (R-KY) (202) 224-4343
Susan M. Collins (R-ME) (202) 224-2523
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202) 224-6665
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) (202) 224-4721
Roger Marshall (R-KS) (202) 224-4774
Tim Scott (R-SC) (202) 224-6121
Josh Hawley (R-MO) (202) 224-6154
Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) (202) 224-4124
Jim Banks (R-IN) (202) 224-4814
Jon Husted (R-OH) (202)-224-3353
Ashley Moody (R-FL) (202) 224-3041
Fax Numbers (update) + Extra numbers
Here is a online fax option that lets you contact Senators for free.
https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (202) 224-5141 Fax 202-228-0776
Patty Murray (D-WA) (202) 224-2621 Fax 202-224-0238
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) (202) 224-5653 Fax 202-224-9787
Christopher Murphy (D-CT) (202) 224-4041 Fax 202-224-9750
Tim Kaine (D-VA) (202) 224-4024 Fax 202-228-6363
Maggie Hassan (D-NH) (202) 224-3324 Fax 202-228-0581
Ed Markey (D-MA) (202) 224-2742 Fax 202-228-0769
Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) (202) 224-2441 Fax 202-228-2190
Bill Cassidy (R-LA) (202) 224-5824 Fax 202-224-6161
Susan M. Collins (R-ME) (202) 224-2523 Fax 202-224-2693
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202) 224-6665 Fax 877-857-0322
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) (202) 224-4721 Fax 202-228-0380
Tim Scott (R-SC) (202) 224-6121 Fax 202-228-5143
Jon Husted (R-OH) (202)-224-3353 Fax 202-224-9075
Josh Hawley (R-MO) (202) 224-6154 Fax 202-228-0526
Angela D. Alsobrooks (D-MD) (202) 224-4524 Fax 202-228-0629
Ashley Moody (R-FL) (202) 224-3041 Fax 202-224-0104
Still unconfirmed or no fax: John W. Hickenlooper (D-CO) Andy Kim (D-NJ) Roger Marshall (R-KS) Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) Jim Banks (R-IN)
Item points.
The ACIP meeting must be immediately cancelled.
Sign on and support Rochester’s bill to reinstate the former members.
A hearing must be called for RFK Jr to appear by Tuesday of next week.
An investigation must be opened into the firings (Bernie/AMA supported).
Here’s an example of what the faxes have looked like…
You can tell it’s a real fax based on how crooked it is, lol.
ACTION ITEMS FOR PHONE CALLS
First, call Bill Cassidy’s office and ask him to call an immediate hearing before next week's ACIP meeting so RFK Jr. can explain why he misled the Senator.
Then, call the rest of the HELP committee and ask them to pressure Bill Cassidy to schedule an immediate hearing with RFK Jr. before the ACIP meeting.
The presentations for the meeting should be done, and RFK Jr. should explain to the Senator what they plan to vote on.
Right now, their focus appears to be on removing former recommendations.
While a few of the products could be phased out with replacements, this is certainly not the right way to make this change, nor are these the right people to do it.
I’ve spent the last two years advocating for improvements in vaccine policy, and this is by no means the right way to do anything regarding vaccine policy.
But folks are distracted right now.
Folks are rightfully distracted by the Middle East conflict, but it’s much easier to stop the meeting than fix the aftermath. If other countries follow these kangaroo court recommendations, there could be lasting ramifications.
Even if we rectify it at home, that might not fix it in other countries.
These proposed changes could set a precedent for other countries while limiting insurance company coverage here at home. We’ve already seen it happen.
We can predict what the proposed changes are likely to be because these people have publicly expressed their unqualified opinions numerous times.
The thing to focus on is how wildly unqualified they are.
And when comparing the two committees, these are specifically unqualified people.
The Charter also requires an explicit membership overlap to build on previous committees' work. That means specifically not wiping the committee in one move in the exact way that just happened.
So, wiping the whole committee shows a great deal of intention.
What has the response been?
The AMA has called for the reinstatement of the former members.
Bernie has called for an immediate investigation into RFK Jr.’s actions.
22 Senators signed a letter about the matter.
RFK Jr. first responded with papers with fake citations.
Then he fixed the citations, but now the people he nominated don’t actually work at the places he said they did… It just keeps going and going.
We have information on every member, and there’s not enough time to discuss how bad they are. However, this has spawned some progress in at least one way.
A bill is being pushed to reverse what’s happening but also require cause to remove ACIP members in the future, removing the power to alter the committee with a heavy hand, and codifying the ACIP, making it illegal to try this in the future.
While well-intentioned and needed, Congress does not have the “appetite” for this type of bill, especially not in this climate.
Not only that, even if there were, it wouldn’t come in time to change something next week, but it does fit nicely into a “backup plan” scenario.
So, we should certainly try, but hopefully we can get this stopped first.
We did not come to this decision lightly.
I have been generally patient with the changes at HHS, even willing to work around the new COVID vaccine policies as long as specific regulations stayed in place.
But as we looked into these members, it just got worse and worse.
Also, claims are being made that “this needed to happen for a long time,” meaning an overhaul at ACIP. This is nonsense because, through our activism, we helped reset the entire committee just last year.
RFK Jr. was already coming into a mostly clean slate with one member rolling over to lead the group. He has the right to change the committee, but like many of his claims, there is no truth to the idea of long-term corruption from the members.
They simply hadn’t been there long enough, and the rules were updated to be more stringent in 2022, so even his understanding of what is possible is wrong.
The removed ACIP members shared their thoughts in a recent publication.
As far as I can tell, the corruption RFK Jr. describes happens at the FDA and CBER.
I don’t even disagree that there are problems with approvals; that’s been our whole thing here for the last few years, as we tried to get a better COVID vaccine approved.
However, how he describes the process is not how it functions.
And now they have released the agenda for a three-day meeting, laying out two of the days. I'm not sure if that means we get a surprise day or if they don’t realize it was planned for three days… It’s anyone's guess at this point.
However, what they have laid out reads like a complete nightmare…
They are primarily revisiting already approved vaccines. I expected this from them, but didn’t expect them to try to finish it in their first meeting with a stacked group.
He knows that he could never get this done in a normal situation, so he had to rig it.
I have already said that some of their complaints about certain aspects of vaccines have the tiniest merit of truth. So, if we can phase them out, we might as well.
For the MMRV vaccine, for example, they are likely to discuss that the risk of AE doubles when MMR is combined with Varicella to make the MMRV vaccine.
This is true.
But it’s the difference of 4 in 10,000 or 9 in 10,000. These are exceedingly rare cases.
There may be an argument to improve upon those vaccines or phase in a new one. However, they aren’t going to discuss phasing out or replacing current vaccines; this is going to be about restricting children's access to current vaccines.
To be fair, the conversation about Thimerosal will likely be a phasing-out process, as only around 6% of influenza vaccines still use the quantity that raises concerns.
However, that’s really just a small part of the problems for next week..
Seeing the agenda item list as it stands is just a lineup of all the things the anti-vaxxer community has been talking about for decades. Going after adjuvants with mercury or aluminum is precisely what I warned about in my Influenza presentation last year.
On one hand, it might be funny to watch these idiots try to explain themselves in a professional setting like a bunch of children playing house…
On the other hand, there will be real-world consequences if this goes through.
Please take a moment and call the Senators.
We are also leaving public comment until the close of business today.
We will follow up with fax numbers for Senators on Saturday.
If you are a new reader and want to follow up with some of my work…
Amidst this, I started doing a show multiple times a week in early 2023. We then formed a group and consistently did the show to push direct action.
This led to presentations and direct contact with members for further action…
VRBPAC Meeting: June 15th, 2023 - COVID
VRBPAC Meeting: March 5th, 2024 - Influenza.
VRBPAC Meeting: June 5th, 2024 - COVID
VRBPAC Meeting: Sept. 20th, 2025 - Pertussis
VRBPAC Meeting: May 22nd, 2025 - COVID
The COVID presentations were based on an “inside/outside” strategy. We did the presentation “inside” the meeting, but also had the public contact from the “outside” with not only public comments but direct contact via academic emails to members.
If you are unclear, VRBPAC is a committee of the FDA and, with that, the HHS.
Our work has been cited in a few articles.
If you want to follow my socials or donate, the links are below.
Our show, Brace for Impact, is on Twitter/X on Tuesdays and Thursdays around 6:00 pm PST.
You’re also welcome to join our Discord, but be prepared for a small test to enter.