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Int'l Business Times
02-07-2025
- Health
- Int'l Business Times
RFK Jr Declares 'Stop Trusting Experts' as He Pledges AI Revamp for HHS: 'You Can Do Drug Approvals Quickly With AI'
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing renewed scrutiny after declaring the public should "stop trusting experts" while unveiling his plans to integrate artificial intelligence across federal health agencies, including accelerating drug approvals at the FDA. Speaking on "The Tucker Carlson Show" on Monday, Kennedy said he is leading an "AI revolution" within the Department of Health and Human Services, enlisting tech talent from Silicon Valley to overhaul outdated systems like the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). His goal, he explained, is to automate and streamline processes like drug approvals without relying on animal testing, arguing that AI tools can achieve results "very, very quickly." "We are at the cutting edge of AI," Kennedy said. "We're implementing it in all of our departments. At FDA, we're accelerating drug approvals so that you don't need to use primates or even animal models. You can do the drug approvals very, very quickly with AI." Kennedy's remarks included sweeping criticisms of the scientific establishment, including the assertion that trusting public health experts is "not a feature of science," but instead akin to "totalitarianism." He claimed that Americans were wrongly discouraged from conducting their own COVID-19 research, adding, "We need to stop trusting the experts, right?" While Kennedy did not specify which AI systems would be used for drug approvals, he suggested the agency would move away from traditional clinical models in favor of simulated testing. During the interview, he repeated misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccine trials, suggested former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci should face legal consequences and called for a national "truth commission" to investigate the government's pandemic response. While Kennedy says the agency is actively recruiting engineers and data scientists for his AI initiative, he has yet to announce any formal rule changes or provide technical guidance for how AI would meet existing regulatory standards. Originally published on Latin Times
USA Today
25-06-2025
- Health
- USA Today
RFK Jr. is an unserious man. But his misinformed vaccine policy will be deadly.
In his latest shocking attack on proven science and medicine, RFK Jr. has fired all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory board. This should concern us all. It has been a little over two years since the end of the pandemic public health emergency, but it's astonishing how quickly we have moved on from the devastation wrought by COVID-19. As a front-line doctor, I cannot forget the sick, the dying and the panic from that time. Roughly 350,000 Americans died before our country created and deployed the first mRNA vaccines in December 2020. These proved to be a powerful weapon against the virus and greatly decreased the rate of death and suffering. But a new enemy emerged in parallel: misinformation and mistrust in public health and science. The backlash against what our own nation's brightest minds had produced, with evidence to back up vaccination, was astounding. Unvaccinated patients would be cursing Dr. Anthony Fauci, then the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the vaccines to my face ‒ even as they were dying on large amounts of oxygen. This legacy of distrust continues and is unfortunately being borne out in the Trump administration's policies under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., top vaccine skeptic and head of the Health and Human Services Department. In his latest shocking attack on proven science and medicine, he has fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory board. These are experts in the field of medicine, tasked with making recommendations on vaccine deployment. This should concern us all. Opinion: Please stop letting RFK Jr. make vaccine policies. His new COVID plan is deadly. RFK Jr. claims firing vaccine experts will Make America Healthy. It won't. In his reason for firing these 17 experts, Kennedy claimed that they have never denied a vaccine – which is not their job, by the way – and that they are beholden to corporate interests. Unlike other members of the administration, this has not proved to be true. Some advisory board members have even recused themselves in cases that could suggest a conflict of interest. The integrity of these professionals stands in stark contrast to Kennedy's unfounded accusations. Introducing skepticism into sound scientific recommendations without proof can have dire consequences. Just look at the recent measles outbreak in Texas among unvaccinated populations as an example. Healthy and vulnerable children are being put at risk due to misguided beliefs and shadowed skepticism by our governmental agencies about what is generally considered sound science. Look at Kennedy's endorsement of dubious science that vitamin A is an effective preventative to measles – a message that has led to cases of vitamin A poisoning in children. I'm a doctor. Trump's crusade against universities undermines the future of your health. | Opinion What is emerging is a troubling pattern of RFK Jr. and this administration spreading doubt of evidence-based public health recommendations. His motto is to 'Make America Healthy Again.' This is a pleasant sound bite, but the administration's actions and polices are doing the opposite. Cutting National Institutes of Health funding and crippling research into cancer and heart disease cures is not making us healthier. Neither is laying off critical staff at the Food and Drug Administration, especially when we are having outbreaks of salmonella and other foodborne illnesses. MAHA misinformation will cost lives. How will the proposed federal spending cuts to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which could reduce access to the more than 70 million Americans enrolled, make us healthier? How is any of this making America healthy again? It's not. In fact, it's breeding ignorance by culling from the table the actual experts in public health, science and medicine. RFK Jr. is all about solving chronic disease, but he seems to be listening to his gut (which by the way does not have a PhD, MD or any medical background) rather than people who have knowledge in this area. It's akin to firing car safety experts because you don't believe that seat belts and airbags save lives. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. At a time when we need informed guidance, we are instead cultivating an environment where political agendas eclipse scientific truth. It is only a matter of time before we face another COVID-like health crisis. At the rate we are proceeding, we will be ill-prepared to respond. Our public health infrastructure is already frail, and with the brain drain of qualified experts being systematically replaced by unsound ideologies, we set ourselves up for extraordinary vulnerability. The stakes are too high to play this game. RFK Jr. needs to get more serious, or we need to replace him with actual experts in public health who know what they're doing. Dr. Thomas K. Lew is an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician of Hospital Medicine at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley. All expressed opinions are his own. Follow him on X: @ThomasLewMD You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
GMA Network
21-06-2025
- Health
- GMA Network
Ozamiz City logs first mpox case
An undated colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (pink) found within an infected cell (yellow), cultured in the laboratory, captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID/ Handout via REUTERS Health authorities have confirmed the first positive case of mpox in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, Mayor Indy Oaminal said in a press release on Friday, June 20, 2025. The patient, who sought medical attention at the Mayor Hilarion A. Ramiro Sr. Medical Center, is currently in isolation and recovering well. He presented himself voluntarily for a check-up after experiencing symptoms. The City Health Office (CHO) has launched contact tracing efforts immediately to prevent the possible spread of the disease. Individuals identified as close contacts are now being monitored pursuant to the health protocols set by the Department of Health (DOH). Oaminal urged the public not to panic, noting that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine has confirmed that the mpox strain is Clade II, the milder and self-limiting form of the virus. However, residents are still urged to remain vigilant and report to the nearest health facility if they experience symptoms such as a painful rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, muscle aches, or back pain. The public is also reminded to practice proper hygiene such as regular handwashing, the use of close-fitting masks in public, and avoiding skin-to-skin contact. "Even if the strain is not deadly, we cannot be complacent. Please remain vigilant and practice the prescribed self-protection measures against the virus. At the first sign of symptoms related to Mpox, immediately proceed to the health facility nearest you," Oaminal said. — GMA Regional TV
GMA Network
15-06-2025
- Health
- GMA Network
DOH: Mpox cases under control, PH not included in WHO public health emergency
An undated colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (pink) found within an infected cell (yellow), cultured in the laboratory, captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID/ Handout via REUTERS Despite the rise of Monkey pox virus (Mpox) cases in the Philippines, the situation is under control and the country is not included in the public health emergency of international concern issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the Department of Health on Sunday. In a report in Super Radyo dzBB, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said that despite the rise of an undisclosed number of local Mpox cases, the number is below figures recorded in the same period in 2024. Mpox cases sa bansa, kontrolado; Pilipinas, hindi kasama sa public health emergency ng @WHO, ayon sa @DOHgovph. #SuperBalitaSaTanghali — DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) June 15, 2025 'There is a slight increase of cases in some (local government units) but this is not higher than last year. Mas mataas pa din ang nakita naming cases from last year. We are increasing our campaign in education, treatment and isolation para hindi siya kumalat at dumami pa (to prevent cases from spreading and increasing),' Herbosa said. (The number of cases we observedin 2024 is higher than this year.) Herbosa did not specify the exact locations where the new Mpox cases were reported but said the disease is of the milder Clade II variant compared to Clade I which has a higher mortality rate. Under the Clade II classification, Mpox cases are self-limiting or could heal by itself and does not require close-in intervention from the government. The worldwide emergency covers Clade Ib, the a variant of the Mpox virus that has shown enhanced transmissibility, particularly through close contact and sexual transmission. —RF, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's Birthday Military Parade Just Took Another Sinister Turn
As the Army transports military equipment to the nation's capital in preparation for next week's military parade in honor of its 250th birthday—and Trump's 79th—one tank transporter carried a sinister, graffitied message: 'Hang Fauci & Bill Gates.' A video of that transporter was shared by the Army's official X account and was viewied nearly 700,000 times after it was left up for 24 hours. It has subsequently been taken down and disavowed: 'That statement does not align with Army values,' Steve Warren, an Army spokesperson, told The Washington Post, which first reported on the graffiti. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, rose to prominence as a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force during the Covid pandemic. His leadership and deference to science made him a villain of the right, resulting in him being placed under investigation by the GOP and receiving countless 'credible death threats.' Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has also long been the center of right-wing ire and conspiracy theories. While it's not clear who is responsible for the graffiti, it is deeply troubling to see a call for the murder of two high-profile, politically liberal civilians on an Army vehicle and on the Army's official account. It underscores the charged political environment that surrounds the Trump administration. The parade itself—scheduled for June 14—will be a massive, resounding demonstration of the military's power and loyalty to Trump.
