> At a Glance
> – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. missed Tatiana Schlossberg’s Jan. 5 funeral while unveiling a child-vaccine rollback
> – New CDC schedule drops from 17 to 11 required shots; RSV, hep A/B, dengue, meningococcal now targeted only at high-risk groups
> – Schlossberg, 35, had blasted her cousin’s policies in The New Yorker, saying they endangered cancer patients like herself
> – Why it matters: The policy shift and family rift spotlight tensions between public-health changes and personal loss
On Jan. 5, as Kennedy relatives filled a Manhattan church to mourn Tatiana Schlossberg, the nation’s new health secretary was in Washington rewriting child-vaccine rules-and promoting the move with a slow-motion video of laser beams shooting from his eyes.
The Funeral and the Policy Rollout
While Schlossberg’s parents, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, siblings Rose and Jack, and other relatives-including Maria Shriver, Joe Kennedy III, and former presidents Joe Biden-gathered at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, RFK Jr. released the CDC’s revised immunization schedule.
The updated guidelines:
- Keep required protection against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hib, pneumococcal, polio, MMR, HPV, chickenpox
- Limit RSV, hepatitis A & B, dengue, meningococcal ACWY, meningococcal B to high-risk groups
- Leave rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal, hepatitis A & B to physician discretion
An HHS social-media clip posted during the service showed Trump declaring RFK Jr. would “help make America healthy again,” followed by footage of pull-ups, golf swings, and Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt.
A Cousin’s Public Rebuke
Weeks earlier, Schlossberg-an environmental journalist who died Dec. 30 from acute myeloid leukemia-published a New Yorker essay excoriating her cousin’s influence on health policy.
She wrote that Columbia doctors, including her husband George Moran, feared losing research funding and jobs, and warned that vaccine skepticism endangered immunocompromised patients like herself.
> “Bobby is a known skeptic of vaccines… I was especially concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get mine again.”
She noted her chemotherapy drug cytarabine derives from a Caribbean sponge discovered through government funding-“the very thing that Bobby has already cut.”
Key Takeaways
- The child-vaccine schedule now requires 6 fewer shots, shifting several to optional or high-risk status
- RFK Jr. skipped the funeral as the policy launched, heightening family tension
- Schlossberg’s essay underscored worries among researchers and vulnerable patients about funding and access
The twin events-funeral and policy shift-captured a family and a nation grappling with sweeping health-policy changes amid personal tragedy.
