Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #112

[Smelly Squirrel]

Top gene therapy regulator forced out at FDA

Nicole Verdun, top gene therapy regulator at the FDA, has been forced out of the agency.

www.statnews.com

Nicole Verdun, director of the office that reviews cell and gene therapies at the Food and Drug Administration, and her deputy Rachael Anatol have been placed on administrative leave and escorted out of the agency, according to a recording of a meeting obtained by STAT.

Verdun had worked closely with Peter Marks, the former head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, on establishing new paths for bringing gene therapies to market, particularly in rare diseases. Marks was forced out by the Trump administration in March for his role in regulating Covid-19 vaccines.

 

[Gemmie]

Top gene therapy regulator forced out at FDA

Nicole Verdun, top gene therapy regulator at the FDA, has been forced out of the agency.

www.statnews.com

Nicole Verdun, director of the office that reviews cell and gene therapies at the Food and Drug Administration, and her deputy Rachael Anatol have been placed on administrative leave and escorted out of the agency, according to a recording of a meeting obtained by STAT.

Verdun had worked closely with Peter Marks, the former head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, on establishing new paths for bringing gene therapies to market, particularly in rare diseases. Marks was forced out by the Trump administration in March for his role in regulating Covid-19 vaccines.

I'm being total serious when I say I feel like we are doomed. Has too much harm been done with all the unraveling, escorting, firing, etc., or can the harm be undone with future administrations?

 

[Gemmie]

Seventeen vaccine experts who were dismissed from a federal advisory panel last week say they are worried that recent moves by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will destabilize vaccine policy in the country and jeopardize access to lifesaving immunizations.

The experts sat on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which plays an important role in ensuring access to vaccines.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/health/former-cdc-advisers-deeply-concerned-vaccine

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Why a Vaccine Expert Left the C.D.C.: ‘Americans Are Going to Die’ - NY Times

In 13 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Fiona Havers crafted guidance for contending with Zika virus, helped China respond to outbreaks of bird flu and guided safe burial practices for Ebola deaths in Liberia.

More recently, she was a senior adviser on vaccine policy, leading a team that produced data on hospitalizations related to Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus. To the select group of scientists, federal officials and advocates who study who should get immunizations and when, Dr. Havers is well known, an embodiment of the C.D.C.’s intensive data-gathering operations.

On Monday, Dr. Havers resigned, saying she could no longer continue while the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dismantled the careful processes that help formulate vaccination standards in the United States.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Outside groups organize to form unbiased, independent vaccine panel

Since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the members of the CDC’s esteemed vaccine advisory panel, medical organizations and experts are looking for alternatives.

www.nbcnews.com

CDC's vaccine panel to take up longtime target of anti-vaccine groups

The eight advisers picked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will vote on the use of thimerosal, which is in some flu shots, at a two-day meeting next week.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Outside groups organize to form unbiased, independent vaccine panel

Since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the members of the CDC’s esteemed vaccine advisory panel, medical organizations and experts are looking for alternatives.

www.nbcnews.com

I was hoping this might happen!

 

[Gemmie]

HHS faces new accusations of presenting nonexistent research, adding to alarming pattern​

HHS faces new accusations of presenting nonexistent research, adding to alarming pattern

Many people here and around the world need to be able to rely on U.S. health officials. That’s becoming increasingly difficult.

www.msnbc.com

 

[IceIce9]

What the latest COVID vaccine changes mean for pregnant people and children

Can you still get the vaccine? Will insurance still cover it? The 19th answers questions pregnant people and parents might have about the recent change.

19thnews.org

“Despite the change in recommendations from HHS, the science has not changed. It is very clear that COVID infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability, and it can cause devastating consequences for families,” Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a statement. “The COVID vaccine is safe during pregnancy, and vaccination can protect our patients and their infants

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Kennedy’s advisers back flu vaccination, but not shots with a rarely used preservative

The seven-member panel, which includes vaccine skeptics, replaced the previous 17-member group earlier this month.

www.detroitnews.com

Atlanta — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's new vaccine advisory committee returned to work Thursday, and the panel may vote on proposals about fall flu vaccines and a preservative in some flu shots that antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, meeting in Atlanta, also is expected to vote on whether to recommend a second version of a lab-made antibody that protects newborns against a childhood menace called respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV...

 

[IceIce9]

I had thought all babies received HIB vaccination. Definitely when I worked in the hospital they were.

Grieving Indiana mother warns parents after 8-year-old son dies from deadly bacteria

Ashlee Dahlberg said it all started when her 8-year-old son, Liam, came home from school with a headache in April.

www.wthr.com

 

[Gemmie]

The first meeting of new vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrapped up Thursday after days of discussions that rankled mainstream scientists, public health experts and major medical associations. The committee’s votes could bring an end to the use of a robustly studied preservative in flu shots, a shift that may ultimately limit access to vaccines for some people.

...

The new members were a sharp contrast to their predecessors in terms of expertise and experience, and it made for an erratic, sometimes contentious meeting — often delayed by technical and procedural snafus — where CDC experts pushed back on advisers’ or presenters’ theories and interpretations of data.

“This meeting was clearly orchestrated to sow distrust in vaccines,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Colorado who has been a liaison member to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the American Academy of Pediatrics, after Thursday’s meeting. “The process today also set a very dangerous precedent going forward. This committee is making important policy decisions based on pseudoscience, and ultimately, this is going to harm us all.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/27/health/cdc-vaccine-advisers-takeaways?

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

RFK Jr.'s made promises about vaccines. Here's what he's done as health secretary

Here’s a look at what Kennedy has said and done since becoming the nation’s top health official on Feb. 13.

www.detroitnews.com

Anti-vaccine activist presents data to RFK Jr.'s reshaped CDC advisory panel

The meeting included a discussion of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative and longtime target of the anti-vaccine world. It was removed from nearly all U.S. vaccines in 2001.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I watched Pretty Hurts on Lifetime yesterday. The made-for-TV movie was awful, but the concept of a pharmaceutical company sponsoring the film to encourage parents to get their teens vaccinated against meningitis is unique and forward-thinking. I don't recall the previous movie mentioned in the press release but will see if I can watch it on demand. Given the changes that are being made in the CDC that make vaccine information more difficult to find, maybe movies and other forms of media will become the best way for parents to learn about the risks associated with not having their children vaccinated against deadline childhood diseases.

GSK and Lifetime® launch original movie to raise awareness about the impact of meningitis | GSK US

Pretty Hurts, a new Lifetime Original Movie brought to you by GSK, informs Lifetime’s mom audience about meningococcal disease.

us.gsk.com

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Kennedy’s advisers back flu vaccination, but not shots with a rarely used preservative

The seven-member panel, which includes vaccine skeptics, replaced the previous 17-member group earlier this month.

www.detroitnews.com

Atlanta — The Trump administration’s new vaccine advisers on Thursday endorsed this fall’s flu vaccinations for just about every American — but only if they use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism...

The seven-member panel bucked another norm Thursday as it discussed the safety of a preservative used in less than 5% of U.S. flu vaccinations: It deliberated based only on a presentation from an antivaccine group's former leader — without allowing the usual public airing of scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Some states are making it more difficult for parents to opt out of vaccines.

The push to remove religious exemptions for vaccines is meant to drive up vaccination rates. It's working.

www.nbcnews.com

RFK Jr.'s warnings about sperm counts fuel doomsday claims about male fertility

The health secretary has warned about falling sperm counts in teens. Doctors say the reality is far more nuanced and little cause for panic.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[dmac55]

RFK Jr. sued by pediatricians, other medical groups over Covid vaccines

Pediatricians and other major health groups are suing RFK Jr. over vaccines

Kennedy's track record of undermining vaccine safety and effectiveness prompted the lawsuit. "We've had enough," one public health expert said.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Teche]

Some states are making it more difficult for parents to opt out of vaccines.

The push to remove religious exemptions for vaccines is meant to drive up vaccination rates. It's working.

www.nbcnews.com

RFK Jr.'s warnings about sperm counts fuel doomsday claims about male fertility

The health secretary has warned about falling sperm counts in teens. Doctors say the reality is far more nuanced and little cause for panic.

www.nbcnews.com

Maybe not such a bad thing. Haha!

 

[otto]

Canada has no choice but to develop national monitoring of disease, while also dealing with misinformation that comes across the border via social media.

It's surprising that the US no longer wants the position of global leader in health standards and protection against preventable disease/illness, but that's the reality today.

"Canada should do more to strengthen its health surveillance systems as cuts to U.S. health institutions threaten access to crucial monitoring data, experts say in an editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) this week.

The editorial says cuts within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institutes of Health and the federal Department of Health and Human Services could strip Canada and other countries of valuable health data.

"We've had a decades-long relationship with the Centers for Disease Control and other organizations in the States," said co-author Dr. Shannon Charlebois, a family physician and CMAJ's medical editor. "As those are dismantled, we're not going to have our early warning systems."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cmaj-editorial-canada-us-cuts-surveillance-1.7577992

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Measles cases reach highest point since the disease was eliminated in U.S. in 2000

An outbreak in West Texas that spread to several other states drove the case counts up substantially.

www.nbcnews.com

Measles cases in the United States are the highest they’ve been since the country eliminated the disease in 2000. The U.S. has reported 1,277 cases since the start of the year, according to NBC News’ tally of state health department data.

Earlier this year, the U.S. also recorded its first measles deaths in a decade: two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico. All were unvaccinated.

For the past 25 years, measles has been considered eliminated in the U.S. because it has not continuously spread over a yearlong period...

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Doctors and public health organizations sue Kennedy over vaccine policy changes

A coalition of doctors groups and public health organizations sued the U.S. government over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.

www.detroitnews.com

New York – A coalition of doctors groups and public health organizations sued the U.S. government on Monday over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association and four other groups – along with an unnamed pregnant doctor who works in a hospital – filed the lawsuit in federal court in Boston.

U.S. health officials, following infectious disease experts' guidance, previously urged annual COVID-19 shots for all Americans ages 6 months and older. But in late May, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was removing COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women...