In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it was reinstating the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines—which was disbanded in 1998—“to improve the safety, quality, and oversight of vaccines administered to American children.”

The task force will provide recommendations on childhood vaccines “that result in fewer and less serious adverse reactions than those vaccines currently on the market,” the agency said. It is the latest move by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to scrutinize the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule.

The reinstatement comes after Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, funded a lawsuit against his administration in May for failing to re-establish the task force. The group, which has been criticized for spreading misinformation about vaccines, welcomed the decision.

“It took nearly 50 years for HHS to do this, but at last the Secretary is following the law on this critical issue,” wrote CEO Mary Holland. “We are grateful.”

The Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines was created in 1986 through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act to provide compensation to children who experienced adverse reactions to certain vaccines.

According to HHS, the task force will include members from the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since taking office, Kennedy has made a number of changes to the agency’s vaccine policies.

In June, he removed all members of a federal committee of independent experts that makes recommendations to the CDC on who should receive immunizations and when. He replaced them with new members, many of whom are vaccine skeptics and have criticized COVID-19 shots.

Soon after the new panel convened, it announced plans to review the health effects of the childhood vaccination schedule. In May, Kennedy also removed the CDC’s recommendation of the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women and healthy children. (BBC)