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How RFK Jr. made millions from vaccine lawsuits
His actions as health secretary could lead to widespread vaccine shortages, illness, death — and personal enrichment. My editor at the New Republic recently asked me what I thought of the latest news on vaccines. He was referring to the decision by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services, to fire 17…
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RFK Jr. recommends new vaccines after months of delay
With no official or acting CDC director, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in charge of the CDC — and recommending vaccines is the one job he can’t delegate. Who is in charge at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? I reported on this last week for the Guardian — and the answer was…
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How the Trump admin is undermining vaccines
They’re calling all science into question and undermining public trust in the whole endeavor. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines heralded a major breakthrough in battling the Covid pandemic, building on three decades of scientific work and earning a Nobel prize. They show promise for treating or preventing certain cancers, rare conditions and infectious diseases — including, potentially,…
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Are we ready for the next pandemic?
The U.S. response to the bird flu and measles outbreaks are worrying signs that our pandemic preparedness has eroded. I’ve been covering bird flu for a while now. It wasn’t great under Biden. There was never enough testing to understand where outbreaks are happening and how they are spreading. Health leaders chose not to deploy…
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Top US officials throw Covid vaccines into turmoil
The Trump administration is bypassing scientific evidence and procedure to change vaccine rules. Last week, three top U.S. health officials made an unusual announcement about Covid vaccines. They said they would remove the recommendation for Covid vaccination from the childhood immunization schedule, and would also cease recommending it for pregnant people. The first reason it…
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RFK Jr’s autism database is still happening
It’s not a “registry,” it’s a “real-world data platform” to “link existing datasets,” HHS told me. The news that the U.S. government was creating an “autism registry” sparked a major outcry in recent weeks. One petition against it gained 30,000 signatures in one day, eventually reaching nearly 50,000 names. The backlash seemed to work. “We…
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The measles outbreak is getting worse — and so is the misinformation
Anti-vaccine activists, and the U.S. health secretary, are promoting unproven treatments in place of vaccination. A second child died from measles in Texas this month. Both of the girls, ages 6 and 8, had no previous health conditions, other than being unvaccinated. The outbreak in Texas has now risen to 541 known cases and 56 hospitalizations. The…
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Texas pharmacies are running low on measles vaccine
The surge in demand comes as a second measles death is reported in New Mexico — and as the top U.S. health official promotes misinformation on measles. There are now 198 known cases, 23 hospitalizations and one death from measles in Texas, and 30 known cases and one death in New Mexico. But if you call a…
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Should I be worried about measles?
Here’s the lowdown on measles in the U.S., and whether you should get a measles booster. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has only been health secretary for a few weeks, but already he’s facing a test that reveals his approach to infectious diseases. A measles outbreak is spiraling in the American Southwest, with a total of…
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What RFK Jr. and other nominees will mean for our health
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a decades-long vaccine conspiracist and AIDS denialist, was confirmed as head of Health and Human Services yesterday. Other nominees are still waiting for their hearings. First, we’re going to talk about RFK Jr. and what all this means. But then I want to talk about the nominations for other health agencies…
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RFK Jr doesn’t need a Trump admin job to control public health
The two most influential anti-vaxxers in the U.S.—Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump—are teaming up, which could give Kennedy control over health agencies. At his Madison Square Garden rally last week, Donald Trump talked about his new (or, at least, newly public) partnership with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the most powerful anti-vaxxers…
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