Kennedy faces anti-vax anger over hantavirus treatment legal protections

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed back on criticism from some Make America Healthy Again activists after he extended liability protections for drugmakers working to develop treatments for the Andes hantavirus strain. 

HHS late last week extended legal protections through July 18 to manufacturers and distributors of the experimental antiviral drug favipiravir as a potential treatment.  

Kennedy signed a PREP Act declaration, which provides protections for health product manufacturers during a pandemic or a similarly declared public health crisis. 

“This action helps remove barriers to research and response efforts while we continue monitoring the recent outbreak linked to the South Atlantic cruise ship,” Kennedy wrote earlier this month on social platform X. 

But the protections were extended only for use in passengers possibly exposed to Andes........

© The Hill