A nurse loads the PfizerBioNTech vaccine to be administered to a patient. Credit: OleksSH/Shutterstock
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made another vaccine-related change at the agency late last week, repealing a federal policy that financially rewards hospitals for reporting staff vaccination rates.
“Medical decisions should be made based on one thing: the wellbeing of the person — never on a financial bonus or a government mandate,” Kennedy said in a statement, calling the President Joe Biden-era incentive coercive and claiming it denied informed consent. “Doctors deserve the freedom to use their training, follow the science, and speak the truth — without fear of punishment.”
The policy, established under the Biden Administrations Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) inpatient payment rule, tied hospital reimbursement to staff vaccination reporting. The data was published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network.
The move is one of several major policy repeals Kennedy has made since taking the reins at HHS in February and part of what HHS officials say is a broad effort to restore medical autonomy in federally funded programs and root out financial and regulatory pressures that incentivize physicians toward pre-scripted medical decisions rather than individualized, evidence-based care.
Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, also has overseen the rollback of other Biden-era COVID-19 policies — including no longer recommending vaccines for healthy pregnant people or healthy children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years — claiming safety risks. Kennedy’s critics, including authors of studies he and other HHS officials have cited, have challenged those decisions and claimed misrepresentation of data.
“Raising questions without adequate data casts doubt on vaccination, which can further drive down confidence in vaccines,” Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in June. “More than any other medications, vaccines are extensively and constantly reviewed and evaluated. Vaccination saves lives.”
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