Author: Claudinne Miller
Kennedy and vaccines loom over Senate confirmation hearing for CDC director
MSNBC Senators pressed nominee Susan Monarez on vaccines, fired CDC workers and whether she would stand up to the health secretary. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines loomed over Susan Monarez’s Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monarez, […]
Jun 25, 2025
RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort
Politico The United States won’t contribute anymore to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, until the global health organization has “re-earned the public trust,” U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday. In an inflammatory video speech delivered to the Gavi pledging summit, seen by POLITICO, Kennedy accused Gavi of neglecting vaccine safety, making questionable recommendations […]
Jun 25, 2025
A new COVID variant is spreading in the US: What are the symptoms?
USA Today A new COVID-19 variant that was unheard of just months ago is now projected to be the second-most common strain in the United States. Variant NB.1.8.1 was first detected in China in January but accounted for about 0% of cases in the United States until May. By early June, it was estimated to account for […]
Jun 25, 2025
Millions of children at risk from stalling global vaccinations, study says
Washington Post The study noted persisting outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including the U.S. measles outbreaks this year reaching over 1,000 cases. Millions of children around the world may be at risk because of stalling vaccination efforts in recent years, according to an analysis of a half-century of global vaccination efforts. The study, published Tuesday in the […]
Jun 25, 2025
Vaccine Panel Gutted by Kennedy Loses a Member Ahead of First Meeting
NYT Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the panel and appointed eight new ones. Now, the board is down to just seven. Two weeks ago, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of an influential committee that recommends which vaccines Americans should get. He then named eight new members, […]
Jun 25, 2025
Kennedy’s New Advisers to Broaden Scrutiny of Childhood Vaccines
NYT The panel will revisit the hepatitis B shot given at birth, among others. The former head of an anti-vaccine group has been hired as a special employee at H.H.S. Just minutes into the first meeting of scientific advisers appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it was clear that the skeptical panelists intended […]
Jun 25, 2025
‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home
NYT From a lone clinic in Texas to an entire school district in North Dakota, the virus is upending daily life and revealing a deeper crisis of belief. He was a chiropractor by training, but in a remote part of West Texas with limited medical care, Kiley Timmons had become a first stop for whatever […]
Jun 25, 2025
Illinois confirms first 2025 human case of West Nile virus
Chicago Sun Times The case this year is the earliest detection in nearly a decade. The virus carried by mosquitoes poses the greatest risk to people over 65 and the immunocompromised. A downstate resident has tested positive for West Nile virus, marking the first detection of the mosquito-transmitted disease in humans in Illinois this year […]
Jun 25, 2025
CDC interim leaders, in first all-hands meeting, speak of ‘myth-busting’ and ‘resilience’
STAT Susan Monarez, nominee for director, was reported to be starting to meet with senators ahead of confirmation. In their first all-staff meeting since the start of the Trump administration, the interim leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attempted to sidestep controversy and rally troops at the storied but demoralized agency on […]
Jun 25, 2025
Presentation for CDC advisers appears to cite nonexistent study to support claims about risk of vaccine preservative
CNN A presentation slated to be shared at this week’s meeting of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that a study in animals suggested that use of the vaccine preservative thimerosal can have “long-term consequences in the brain.” But the study doesn’t appear to exist. Lyn Redwood, a former leader of […]
Jun 25, 2025