US health department reinstates task force on safer childhood vaccines

(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it is reinstating a federal task force for safer childhood vaccines after 27 years.

The original task force was created by Congress under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 to improve the safety, quality and oversight of vaccines administered to American children. It was disbanded in 1998 and has been inactive ever since.

HHS said the task force will be led by Jay Bhattacharya, the National Institutes of Health director, and represented by senior leaders of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The task force will work closely with the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines to produce recommendations focused on development of “childhood vaccines t