Here’s some big news in the fight against Lyme disease: Pfizer just announced its plan to file for regulatory approval of a new Lyme disease vaccine. If it gets the green light, this would be the first vaccine for the tick-borne illness available in over two decades. This new development, however, lands right at a crossroads, especially when you consider the current US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
According to CNN, he knows the pain of Lyme disease all too well, often sharing stories about picking dozens of ticks off himself in the 1980s and how all his children have battled the illness, with two severely affected. As HHS secretary, RFK Jr. has pledged to tackle Lyme disease head-on, even convening a roundtable in December to discuss better diagnostics and treatments. He famously said, “We’ve got to figure out a way to make it safe for children to go back in the woods again.”
