The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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RSV Vaccine Age 50+: What a New CDC Update Means for You

July 3, 2025 – The CDC published a new recommendation this week calling for some adults ages 50 to 59 to get vaccinated for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Public health experts predict that if 20% of all newly eligible U.S. adults get vaccinated, it would prevent about 5,200 hospitalizations, 1,100 ICU stays, and 333 deaths annually.

https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20250703/rsv-vaccine-age-50-plus-what-new-cdc-update-means-for-you?

Syphilis

Certain supplies of a long-acting injection of penicillin have been recalled. Although there were no reports of adverse events related to the Bicillin L-A shots, some lots were found to be contaminated with floating particles. Now, drugmaker Pfizer is warning doctors that it expects to run low on supplies of the medicine. Benzathine penicillin G, sold as Bicillin, is used to treat a number of common bacterial infections, such as strep throat, in adults and children. It is also the only medicine that’s approved and recommended to treat syphilis during pregnancy. Over the past decade, rates of congenital syphilis in the US have increased from 335 in 2012 to more than 3,800 in 2023, the CDC reported. Without treatment, syphilis during pregnancy can cause miscarriages and stillbirths. In babies, syphilis can lead to vision and hearing problems as well as deformities of the bones and teeth and death.

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Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods, CDC report says Most Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods, those super-tasty, energy-dense foods typically full of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, according to a new federal report. Read more.

Why this matters: For the first time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed those high levels of consumption, using dietary data collected from August 2021 to August 2023.   The top sources included burgers and sandwiches, sweet baked goods, savory snacks, pizza and sweetened drinks.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ A $2.5 billion pledge makes women’s health a priority in Gates Foundation spend-down   FACT FOCUS: RFK Jr.'s reasons for cutting mRNA vaccine not supported by evidence   Watch: What is Chikungunya, the virus spreading through China?

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CDC director Susan Monarez is fired and other agency leaders resign

NEW YORK (AP) — The director of the nation’s top public health agency has been fired after less than one month in the job, and several top agency leaders have resigned.

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-director-susan-monarez-50dfbec849b53b4593755d2e6e616687?

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? CDC plunges into chaos

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch. Photos: Getty Images

The CDC was engulfed in turmoil late last night when HHS announced that director Susan Monarez had abruptly departed — only to be contradicted by her lawyers, Axios' Tina Reed writes. The White House then said she was officially fired. Why it matters: The dispute left CDC leadership in limbo as a wave of high-level departures gutted the top ranks of the agency responsible for protecting the nation's public health. After HHS announced that Monarez is "no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell posted on X that Monarez "has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired." The White House quickly issued a statement saying Monarez "is not aligned with the President's agenda of Making America Healthy Again." Monarez clashed with RFK Jr. over COVID vaccine policy changes and attempted to get Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Senate health committee, to intervene, The Washington Post reports. ? Zoom in: At least four other top CDC officials — including chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry — resigned last night, according to internal emails viewed by Axios. "Vaccines save lives — this is an indisputable, well-established, scientific fact," Houry wrote in a separate email. "I am committed to protecting the public's health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency."

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CDC

The CDC has been left leaderless after Director Dr. Susan Monarez was ousted by the White House on Wednesday. Although she had only been working at the CDC since July 31, Monarez was "not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. According to people familiar with the situation, Monarez recently clashed with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team over vaccine policies and personnel matters. Following her departure, three other high-level veteran agency officials resigned. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” Monarez’s attorneys said in a statement. Morale was already low at the agency due to mass layoffs in the spring and a deadly shooting at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month.

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CDC Bosses Quit With Doomsday Warning About ‘Deadly’ RFK Jr.

Senior officials quit after a bombshell Daily Beast report exposed Trump and Kennedy’s vaccine plans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw a spree of surprise resignations on Wednesday night after a battle between Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency’s new director.

The outgoing senior health officials issued a stark warning that Kennedy’s politicization of public health policy “will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”

The dramatic day of resignations followed a bombshell report by the Daily Beast, in which a close adviser to Kennedy claimed that the administration plans to pull the COVID vaccine from shelves in a matter of months.

British cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a leading adviser to the controversial, Kennedy-linked lobby group Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Action, said many “influential” members of President Donald Trump’s family share the health secretary’s belief that vaccines are more dangerous than the virus.

Susan Monarez was ousted by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, on Wednesday. Soon afterward, she hit back through her lawyers, insisting that she had not been fired and had no intention of resigning. She accused Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain.”

Monarez was sworn into the role by Kennedy himself a month ago after being nominated by Trump. She was formerly CDC’s acting director.

Earlier, her lawyers said Monarez “has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign.” The White House later confirmed that she had been removed from her role.

“Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the C.D.C.,” Kush Desai, a spokesman for Trump, told The New York Times.

In another twist, Monarez’s legal team, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, told the Daily Beast on Wednesday night that only the president can fire Monarez, and she believes she remains in the role, despite the White House’s insistence.

“Our client was notified tonight by a White House staffer in the personnel office that she was fired,” the statement read. “As a presidential appointee, senate confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her. For this reason, we reject the notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”

The inner turmoil has rocked the agency, with at least four top CDC leaders announcing their resignation shortly after Monarez’s apparent ouster. They include D.C.’s chief medical officer, Dr. Debra Houry; the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis; the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Dr. Daniel Jernigan; and the director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, Dr. Jen Layden, according to The New York Times. They joined Monarez in criticizing their former boss.

Monarez’s legal team accused vaccine skeptic Kennedy of “putting millions of lives at risk,” with the other CDC officials citing issues with the organization’s “unscientific” policies and promotion of health “misinformation.”

“The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader,” Daskalakis said. “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.”

The administration is planning to pull the COVID vaccine from shelves within the next several months, according to a Monday report by the Daily Beast.

Daskalakis posted his lengthy resignation letter on his X account, stating the decision had been difficult and he valued his work in “safeguarding” public health, but had to call out the “perspectives” held by RFK Jr.

“I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough,” Daskalakis said.

Daskalakis said the CDC’s new COVID vaccine working group, which recently appointed another vaccine skeptic, “puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.”

He warned: “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve, not a political voting bloc.”

His impassioned letter said that the CDC was being treated as “a tool” to generate policies and materials “that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.” He continued: “The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”

Daskalakis added, “Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”

Houry’s resignation letter also criticized the organization’s move on vaccines, stated, “Recently, the overstating of risks [of vaccines] and the rise of misinformation have cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of US measles cases in 30 years and the violent attack on our agency.”

In its fiery statement earlier Wednesday, Monarez’s legal team, which also features Abbe Lowell, attacked the changes at the CDC under RFK Jr., claiming independent advisory committees, career experts, and seasoned scientists had been dismissed.

“Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” the statement read.

They said Monarez “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted.”

Like Houry, Daskalakis also referenced the shooting at CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month, where the gunman had spoken about how vaccines had “hurt” him.

Monarez had only been in her job for a week when Patrick Joseph White fired 180 shots into the building, before killing a police officer and then taking his own life at the scene.

“The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning,” Daskalakis said, recalling that his grandfather lost his life standing up to “fascist forces” in Greece. “I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.”

He added, “I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.”

His letter ended with the hope the HHS could “reverse its dangerous course” to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.

“If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the HHS, the CDC, and the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cdc-bosses-quit-with-doomsday-warning-about-deadly-rfk-jr/?

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CDC director Susan Monarez is fired and other agency leaders resign The director of the nation’s top public health agency has been fired after less than one month in the job, and several top agency leaders have resigned. Read more.

Why this matters: Susan Monarez isn’t “aligned with” President Donald Trump’s agenda and refused to resign, so the White House terminated her, spokesman Kush Desai said Wednesday night.   “This is not about one official. It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science. The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within,” her lawyers Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell wrote in a statement.   Her departure coincided with the resignations this week of at least four top CDC officials.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ CDC dramatically scales back program that tracks food poisoning infections   Researchers send letter to FDA on abortion pill safety   FACT FOCUS: Rural hospitals are expected to lose money from Trump’s bill, despite RFK Jr.'s promise

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CDC Bosses Quit With Doomsday Warning About ‘Deadly’ RFK Jr.

Senior officials quit after a bombshell Daily Beast report exposed Trump and Kennedy’s vaccine plans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw a spree of surprise resignations on Wednesday night after a battle between Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency’s new director.

The outgoing senior health officials issued a stark warning that Kennedy’s politicization of public health policy “will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”

The dramatic day of resignations followed a bombshell report by the Daily Beast, in which a close adviser to Kennedy claimed that the administration plans to pull the COVID vaccine from shelves in a matter of months.

British cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a leading adviser to the controversial, Kennedy-linked lobby group Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Action, said many “influential” members of President Donald Trump’s family share the health secretary’s belief that vaccines are more dangerous than the virus.

Susan Monarez was ousted by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, on Wednesday. Soon afterward, she hit back through her lawyers, insisting that she had not been fired and had no intention of resigning. She accused Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cdc-bosses-quit-with-doomsday-warning-about-deadly-rfk-jr/?

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CDC gets new acting director as leadership turmoil leaves agency reeling

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s top public health agency was left reeling Thursday as the White House worked to expel the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director and replace her with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s current deputy.

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-monarez-fired-trump-kennedy-vaccines-science-17fd8a19064e39906bc0125fd81e3525?

 

CDC

A crowd of CDC staffers rallied outside the agency’s Atlanta headquarters on Thursday to salute several top officials who resigned over the removal of the agency’s director. The CDC was left leaderless this week when the White House ousted Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Wednesday. Monarez had reportedly clashed recently with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team over vaccine policies and personnel matters. Soon after her ouster, Dr. Deb Houry, the chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, chief of vaccines and respiratory diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and data chief Dr. Jennifer Layden quit the CDC in protest. According to an administration official and another person familiar with the matter, Kennedy is expected to name Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill to serve as acting director.

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CDC vaccine officials resign while childhood vaccination rates decline

The shake-up at the agency comes as states see increases in vaccine exemption requests.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/08/30/cdc-vaccine-officials-resign-while-childhood-vaccination-rates-decline/?

ps:Very sad!!

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Departing CDC Leader Blasts RFK Jr. Over Bombshell COVID Vaccine Threat

Ex-CDC deputy director says secret plan revealed by the Daily Beast would be a catastrophe.

The most senior official to quit the CDC in protest at the firing of its director has warned against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “dangerous” plan—revealed by the Daily Beast last week—that could ban the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

Debra Houry, chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and deputy director for program and science, abruptly quit last Wednesday along with three other top CDC officials.

That followed the firing of their boss, CDC director Susan Monarez, but the officials also complained about the health secretary’s refusal to engage on science and policy issues with experts from the public health agency.

In an interview with the Daily Beast following her resignation, Houry revealed her belief that RFK Jr. was taking his lead on immunization matters from the discredited anti-vax group he himself used to lead, Children’s Health Defense, rather than from experienced CDC physicians like herself.

When asked if she would be surprised to see Kennedy yank the COVID mRNA vaccine off the market altogether amid claims it is causing “vaccine injuries,” as reported by the Beast last Monday, Houry replied: “Maybe not, maybe not.”

Houry said she felt it would be “difficult” for the Trump administration to pull the jab altogether “right now,” because it still has approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA would, by law, have to prove the vaccines were unsafe.

But she added: “I think we have seen that policy decisions are sometimes made without science, and… there’s been a lot of things that I have been surprised at that have happened.”

Since March, the FDA has been headed up by Trump ally Marty Makary, who has questioned the necessity of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in some cohorts of the U.S. population.

In May, he announced that the FDA would narrow eligibility to people over 65 or those at high risk, and compel manufacturers to undertake extensive studies to determine the benefits for children and healthy young adults. That came into effect last week, with the support of RFK Jr.

Houry said that if the government were to axe COVID mRNA vaccines altogether, it would see an increase in the deaths of the vulnerable—including babies.

“If all COVID vaccines were gone, that would be devastating. What we would see is older adults, or those with multiple medical conditions, or young babies, would be more likely to die,” she said.

“Right now, the COVID variants aren’t quite as virulent as earlier, and as a natural immunity in general, just with some of the exposure… is more protective. Right now, in the U.S., people haven’t been that sick with it.

“But that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t happen. And so you want to make sure that you’re prepared. And if you don’t have vaccines, that’s dangerous.”

Following last week’s departure from the CDC of the five senior scientists, it was revealed that the federal agency responsible for vaccines had never briefed Kennedy, and that he had instead been receiving guidance from other, unnamed advisers.

One of them appears to be Aseem Malhotra, a controversial British cardiologist who is a senior medical adviser to the RFK Jr.-linked pressure group MAHA Action.

A personal friend of Kennedy, Malhotra told the Daily Beast last week that the Trump administration was planning to remove the COVID mRNA vaccine from the market “within months” due to claims surrounding levels of so-called “vaccine injuries,” which have been disputed by the scientific community.

Malhotra also revealed that in addition to RFK Jr., senior members of the Trump family—none of whom have any medical qualifications—were keen to see the vaccine banned.

Houry told the Beast there had been concerns among her and her CDC colleagues about who precisely they believed Kennedy had been taking guidance from.

She said: “I think the Children’s Health Defense is probably advising him, because Lyn Redwood, who [works for] HHS now, [is its] president emeritus.

“We [would] get questions sometimes from the department around different vaccine type. And then we would look and see that the Children’s Health Defense had recently done a blog on something like that.”

Children’s Health Defense has a history of using social media and digital advertising to spread anti-vaccination messages to young parents and minority communities across the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it minimized the risk posed by the virus, argued that new vaccines were dangerous, and challenged public health agencies.

The organization has been banned or restricted on social media multiple times for spreading misinformation, while the Center for Countering Digital Hate has flagged the body as a major driver of anti-vaccine activity online.

Houry also pointed to RFK Jr. consulting “healers” in Texas over the measles outbreak, adding: “They’re people that used non-traditional science or medicine.

“So I guess that’s where, again, we’ve offered to do briefings several times and have not been taken up on that.”

Houry added: “It’s highly unusual. Under the prior Trump administration, I personally had briefed the assistant secretary for health, and secretary, many times. And they usually want to hear from our experts.”

White House spokesman Kush Desai responded in a statement Monday, “The FDA just greenlit four new COVID-19 vaccines with the 2025-2026 formula, and COVID-19 vaccines remain available to 100 percent of Americans who want them. Instead of propagating baseless hysteria and asserting that requiring commonsense clinical safety trials are somehow undermining vaccines, Fake News reporters should try finding a new line of work.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the HHS and Children’s Health Defense for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/departing-cdc-leader-debra-houry-sounds-alarm-over-robert-f-kennedy-jr-covid-vaccine-ban-plan/?

ps:This administration is just mind boggling!!!!!

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• ? Nine former CDC directors and acting directors, from both parties, wrote in an op-ed that Health Secretary RFK Jr. is endangering "America's health security." N.Y. Times gift link.

ps:You mean the genius who picked this genius didn't know what he was getting?????

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RFK Jr.'s month of tests

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

After roiling the leadership of the CDC, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to make more moves this month that will test how much free rein he has within the administration, Axios Vitals author Maya Goldman writes. Why it matters: Republicans are counting on Kennedy and his MAHA base to deliver in the midterm elections. But his tactics and bulldozing of evidence-based public health policy could fray his support within the White House and Congress. Kennedy said last week that he expects to deliver a report on the environmental causes of autism this month. His handpicked vaccine advisory committee is set to meet on the availability of COVID boosters on Sept. 18. Also expected: simplified dietary guidelines and a presidentially commissioned report on ways to reduce chronic disease in children. ? Reality check: Kennedy's CDC purge is prompting medical associations to ramp up more organized opposition. Some blue states are reportedly considering issuing different public health guidance from the Trump administration's, in a sign they're increasingly comfortable picking a high-profile fight with Kennedy. On the Hill, Senate Health Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said last week that the leadership upheaval at CDC warrants more congressional oversight. Keep reading.

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West Nile virus cases running higher than normal, prompting health warnings

NEW YORK (AP) — West Nile virus infections are intense so far this year, with case counts running 40% higher than normal, health officials say.

https://apnews.com/article/west-nile-cdc-d0fe355b8351f52b39ca4d39046da9de?

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Vaccine Panel Recommendations

A vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meets for the second of two days today. It is expected to recommend delaying the hepatitis B vaccine administered to newborns, and will also discuss COVID-19 vaccines for children.    Hepatitis B causes serious liver infections; when infants are infected, up to 90% develop chronic infections. The virus can be transmitted from mother to baby, through sexual activity, or through intravenous drug use. In 2021, nearly 0.5% of babies were born to mothers who tested positive. The CDC has nonetheless recommended all infants receive the first dose at birth—an approach corresponding with a higher percentage of babies completing the dosing schedule by 19 months. The panel is expected to recommend that babies wait until they are at least 1 month old to receive the first dose, assuming the mother tests negative.   The panel separately voted yesterday against recommending a combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (chickenpox) before age 4. For the first dose, the panel recommended the more common approach of separate MMR and chickenpox vaccines.    Vaccines A CDC advisory committee chosen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is calling for changes to childhood vaccines. The advisors voted to recommend that children under the age of four should receive the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine separately from the varicella vaccine for the virus that causes chickenpox. While Thursday's vote against the combo shot may seem like a small tweak, experts said the fact that the panel was revisiting older vaccines can erode confidence in the overall vaccine process. The advisory group is scheduled to continue its two-day meeting today with a discussion and vote on Covid-19 vaccines for all age groups, in addition to a vote on hepatitis B shots for newborns.

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‘Nightmare bacteria’ cases are increasing in the US

Infection rates from drug-resistant “nightmare bacteria” rose almost 70% between 2019 and 2023, according to a new report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists. Bacteria that are difficult to treat due to the so-called NDM gene primarily drove the increase, CDC researchers wrote in an article published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Trump’s unfounded claims heap new stress on household brand name Tylenol Pfizer amps up push into obesity treatments with $4.9B deal for Metsera

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Covid-19 vaccines

The CDC has signed off on a recommendation that patients must consult a health care provider to get a Covid-19 vaccine. The updated guidance — made by a new panel of vaccine advisers chosen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — is a departure from a broader push in past years for most people to get an updated Covid-19 shot. Health experts say this will keep Covid-19 vaccines available but may also create more barriers to access than in past years. Pharmacy chain CVS, which had previously limited access to Covid-19 shots in some places, said Monday that "prescriptions from outside prescribers will no longer be required in any states."

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More than half rehired after CDC purge

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios The White House scrambled over the weekend to take back more than half the 1,300 layoff notices that went out to employees at the embattled Centers for Disease Control. Why it matters: The upheaval from the approximately 600 layoffs still happening could undermine efforts to protect public health, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim, Tina Reed and Maya Goldman report. The cuts were at offices including the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the National Center for Health Statistics and the CDC's Washington office, which is the channel for communications with Congress, sources said. Also hit was the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which supports HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" initiative. Cuts were reversed at the Epidemic Intelligence Service — the "disease detectives" on the front lines of public health responses. Others being brought back include people who produce the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, workers on the measles outbreak, those working on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and people in the Global Health Center, STAT reports. ⚖️ What we're watching: Federal employee unions are asking a court to invalidate the firings.

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Scientists Freak Out as RFK Jr.’s CDC Makes Jaw-Dropping Vaccine U-Turn

Experts at the CDC were blindsided by an update to the language linking vaccinations to autism.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were left reeling after discovering that the agency has quietly rewritten long-standing vaccine language to give oxygen to a debunked autism claim.

The CDC website, for many years, stated that studies have shown there is ”no link” between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder.” The new vaccine skeptic line claims “studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism,” and alleges health authorities have supposedly “ignored” research suggesting a link.

Even the header “Vaccines do not cause autism” has an asterisk by it. The header remains only because of an agreement with Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Top, what the CDC webpage said before the change. On the bottom, revisions made on Wednesday. CDC

The CDC is part of the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services, run by vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

More than 25 peer-reviewed studies have found no association between autism and the MMR shot—the same vaccine anti-vaxxers have obsessed over since a 1998 paper claimed a link before being retracted.

And a Danish study of more than 1.2 million children published this year reported no connection between aluminum in vaccines and any neurodevelopmental harm, including autism.

Inside the CDC, the reaction to Wednesday’s change was immediate and panicked. Five agency officials told The Washington Post that the scientists responsible for vaccine-safety communications had no warning and no role in the changes. They spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation—another striking sign of the pressure inside an agency now overseen by vaccine skeptic and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

To many who fled the CDC this year, the episode simply confirmed their worst fears. The revisions show that the “CDC cannot currently be trusted as a scientific voice,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the former head of the unit overseeing respiratory viruses and immunizations.

Daskalakis, who resigned in August alongside two other senior leaders over what they described as political interference, added, “The weaponization of the CDC voice by validating false claims on official websites confirms what we have been saying.”

The false claim that childhood vaccines cause autism originated with a now-retracted 1998 paper, and it has been dismantled repeatedly through dozens of studies involving hundreds of thousands of children across multiple countries. Yet it remains central to anti-vaccine activism—much of it propelled by Kennedy and, at times, by President Donald Trump.

The newly posted language left former officials stunned. “My question is, how language that misrepresents decades of research ended up on a CDC website,” said Dr. Debra Houry, the agency’s former chief medical officer and a physician, who also resigned in August. “Public health communication must be accurate, evidence-based, and free from political distortion. Anything less erodes trust and puts lives at risk.”

The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, insists the update is rooted in scientific rigor, not politics. “We are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science,” spokesperson Andrew Nixon said.

Anti-vaccine activists quickly claimed victory. Children’s Health Defense, the group formerly led by Kennedy, applauded the shift. “The CDC is beginning to acknowledge the truth about this condition that affects millions, disavowing the bold, long-running lie that ‘vaccines do not cause autism,’” the group said on X.

Kennedy has long tied vaccines to autism and has pushed to overhaul national immunization policy. Trump, for his part, has suggested—without evidence—that autism may be linked to pregnant women taking Tylenol.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/scientists-freak-out-as-rfk-jrs-cdc-starts-pushing-bogus-vaccine-claim/?

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CDC website changed to contradict scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website has been changed to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism, spurring outrage among a number of public health and autism experts. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

For people in this New England mountain town, a health center’s closure leaves unanswered questions Trump and Republicans once more face a tough political fight over Obama-era health law

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Autism and vaccines

Scientific information on the CDC's website was replaced this week with anti-vaccine talking points, including false claims that link autism and vaccines. It's the latest move by the Trump administration to alter longstanding US vaccine policy and cast doubt on vaccinations. "We are updating the CDC's website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science," Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said Thursday. But abundant evidence has shown that there is no connection between vaccines and autism. In a CNN interview, a former top CDC official called the website changes "a national embarrassment" that could leave parents confused.

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RFK Jr.’s CDC Gives Top Job to Doctor Who Slammed Vaccines

Critics have blasted Dr. Ralph Abraham for pushing bogus treatments during the pandemic and halting Louisiana’s vaccination campaign.

One of the nation’s foremost authorities on vaccines has just appointed a notorious vaccine skeptic as its second-in-command.

Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham’s new role as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s deputy director comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself no stranger to controversial and debunked claims about the perceived dangers of vaccines, continues his rampage across the healthcare sector.

Neither Kennedy’s department nor the CDC announced Abraham’s appointment, The New York Times reports, and agency staff were apparently largely unaware of the posting.

A former Louisiana congressman, Abraham later served as the state’s surgeon general, during which time he halted Louisiana’s mass vaccination campaign on the basis that “whether or not a vaccine is right for a specific person [is a conversation] best had with the individual’s healthcare provider.”

The Louisiana health department also waited more than two months under Abraham’s leadership before alerting residents to an outbreak of whooping cough, despite such outbreaks generally being reported almost immediately.

Abraham’s views on medicine have aligned with Kennedy in other ways. During the pandemic, he backed hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs used to treat malaria and parasitic infections, respectively, as treatments for COVID-19 despite evidence showing both are ineffective at combating the disease.

He also described health policies implemented during the crisis as “tyrannical” and “woefully out of touch with reality.”

Speaking with the NYT, Abraham’s predecessor at the CDC, Dr. Nirav Shah, said his “jaw hit the ground” when he learned of the new appointment, given he believes Abraham to be wholly “unqualified” for the position.

The posting comes as Kennedy continues to publicly spar with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor and chair of the Senate’s health committee. Cassidy was a key vote in securing Kennedy’s nomination, which he gave after Kennedy agreed that he would not order the CDC to abandon its official position that vaccines do not cause autism.

Kennedy has now only technically kept that pledge, after adding an addendum to the agency’s website saying its position on the matter is displayed “due to an agreement” with Cassidy.

While Cassidy has since blasted Kennedy for the “irresponsible stunt,” he would appear to have met news of Abraham’s appointment with wary enthusiasm.

“I am hopeful that the two of us as doctors can continue to engage in science-based conversations to protect children, including vaccinating children to prevent measles, whooping cough, and hepatitis,” Cassidy said in a statement Tuesday.

The Daily Beast has reached out to HSS and CDC for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/robert-f-kennedy-jrs-centers-for-disease-control-gives-top-job-to-vaccine-skeptic-dr-ralph-abraham/?

[Joe Knapp]

This is not journalism. 

[phkrause]

? Charted: The big measles surge

Data: CDC. Chart: Axios Visuals This chart shows what it looks like when measles cases hit a 30-year high, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes. It started with an outbreak in West Texas. Now infections are reported in nine states, and hundreds are in quarantine due to a major surge in South Carolina. More than nine in 10 cases were among unvaccinated people or those with unknown vaccination status, the CDC says.

[phkrause]

Measles Resurgence

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday reported at least 733 confirmed measles cases nationwide so far this year—more than four times the annual average of 180 cases from 2000 to 2024. See dashboard. The nationwide update, which often lags behind state-level counts, comes as South Carolina reported 920 measles cases yesterday, including 44 new infections since Tuesday. Of those infected with the respiratory virus in South Carolina, 840 are unvaccinated, and 824 are under 18. Overall, roughly 57% of cases confirmed by the CDC are among people aged 5 to 19. Experts attribute the nationwide rise in measles cases to a growing number of parents declining vaccines for their children over concerns about potential side effects.  The US recorded 2,276 measles cases last year—its highest total since the nation declared measles eliminated in 2000 following high vaccination rates. Last year, the share of kindergarteners vaccinated against measles nationwide also fell below 93%. Experts say herd immunity is typically achieved at around 95% coverage. Explore the best resources we've found on measles here.