The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention killed a campaign promoting seasonal flu shots and canceled a major conference with virus experts just days after outspoken vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the nation’s top health official.
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the CDC pulled the plug on its “Wild to Mild initiative” — which was aimed at encouraging high-risk folks to get vaxxed — Wednesday as one of worst flu seasons in decades rages, NPR reported.
The ads used animals as an analogy for the lowered threat of a the flu virus once a person is vaccinated — using the image of a kitten versus a lion.
But CDC staffers were told in a meeting with National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases reps that the campaign would not continue, the outlet reported. Information about the campaign was then removed from CDC’s web page.