Latest news with #RobertMalone
News24
25-06-2025
- Health
- News24
RFK Jr's new vaccine panel opens with scandal after citing non-existent study
RFK Jr dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) and appointed eight new members. The panel's first meeting opened under controversy when a planned presentation cited a completely non-existent 2008 study. The new panel plans to revisit long-settled vaccine science. A medical panel appointed by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr opened its first meeting on Wednesday under a cloud of controversy after a presentation it planned to review cited a non-existent study. The Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), an independent body that reviews scientific evidence to recommend which groups should receive vaccines and when, rarely makes headlines. But its work has come under fresh scrutiny after Kennedy - who spent two decades spreading vaccine misinformation before becoming President Donald Trump's top health official - abruptly dismissed all 17 sitting ACIP members earlier this month, accusing them of pharmaceutical industry conflicts of interest. He then appointed eight new members, including scientist Robert Malone, widely known for spreading false claims during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Martin Kulldorff, chair of the panel and a co-signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for an end to lockdowns in October 2020 - months before Covid vaccines became available. The posted agenda signalled the panel would revisit long-settled debates around thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, and highlight rare side-effects linked to measles shots, with no planned discussion of their enormous public health benefits. READ | US Senate votes in Trump's controversial pick Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of health Lyn Redwood, a nurse and former leader of Children's Health Defence - an anti-vaccine group once chaired by RFK Jr - is set to present on thimerosal. Scientists reviewing her slides found she had cited a non-existent 2008 study by RF Berman titled "Low-level neonatal thimerosal exposure: Long-term consequences in the brain." In fact, no such study exists. While Berman did publish a paper that year, it appeared in a different journal and found no evidence linking thimerosal to autism. The presentation was quietly removed and replaced without explanation. Revisiting established science Opening the meeting, Kulldorff lamented his firing by Harvard University for refusing the Covid vaccine. He also announced the formation of a new working group to re-examine the wisdom of Hepatitis B shots for babies "at the day of birth." Experts met the announcement with scepticism. "The rationale for Hepatitis B vaccination prior to hospital discharge (not day or birth) for neonates is well documented and established - but it's another pet cause of the anti-vaccine movement so not surprising it's being mentioned," Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University told AFP. Similarly, thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative long used in medicines, with no evidence of harm at low doses. "Study after study showed that the ethylmercury in those vaccines never contributed in any important way to the burden of mercury that one is exposed to, living on this planet," vaccine expert Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia told AFP. Still, vaccine makers agreed to remove it from paediatric vaccines in 1999 in response to public concern. It remains in some flu shots. Measles running rampant For childhood immunisations, US parents can opt for a combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) shot or two separate injections - one for MMR and the other for varicella. The combination spares children an extra jab but carries a slightly higher risk of febrile seizures, a rare and typically harmless side-effect. Separating the shots is already recommended for the first dose at 12-47 months, leaving experts puzzled as to why the issue is being revisited. "This working group may also look at new research concerning the optimal timing of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to resolve religious objections that some parents have concerning the MMR vaccine being used here in the United States," said Kulldorff. The US, which declared measles eliminated in 2000, is currently experiencing its worst outbreak in decades, with more than 1 200 cases and three confirmed deaths. The panel's recommendations could have broad consequences, shaping school vaccine mandates and insurance coverage.
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Health
- New York Times
The C.D.C.'s Vaccine Meeting: What to Watch For
Some new members of the C.D.C.'s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, handpicked by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have expressed deep skepticism of vaccines. One of them, Robert Malone, said on X that he considers the label 'anti-vaxer' to be 'high praise.' Mr. Kennedy named Dr. Malone a co-chair of the committee on Tuesday. The panel's agenda on Wednesday includes some topics that are closely associated with the anti-vaccine movement and omits several others that were originally scheduled for discussion. Here's what to watch for. The panelists: Most of the seven new committee members are not vaccine experts, and a few have not publicly expressed their views on childhood immunizations. The meeting should offer clues about their opinions on the safety of various vaccines. Thimerosal: A perennial target of the anti-vaccine movement, and of Mr. Kennedy, thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that was falsely said to be a cause of autism. Most childhood vaccines in the United States have not contained thimerosal since 2001, even as autism rates have continued to rise. Flu vaccine: The panelists are scheduled to vote on the only pediatric formulation that contains thimerosal, a multidose vial of the flu shot, which uses it to prevent microbial contamination. That formulation accounts for a small fraction of flu vaccines administered to Americans. In a twist, Lyn Redwood, a former leader of Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Mr. Kennedy, is scheduled to present recommendations for the vaccine. M.M.R.V. vaccine: This combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox is on the agenda under 'proposed recommendations' regarding its use in children younger than 4. It slightly increases the risk of febrile seizures, which can occur with any childhood illness but do not cause lasting harm. The C.D.C. already recommends administering the M.M.R. shot and the chickenpox shot separately in the first dose. Maternal and pediatric vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus: It may turn out to be a straightforward vote on recommending clesrovimab, a new monoclonal antibody approved by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month, as an alternative to protect infants. But a scheduled update on the safety of the maternal vaccine opens the door to restrictions. The presenters: A dozen or more C.D.C. scientists typically present data to the panelists. This time, only a few senior scientists are scheduled to present most of the data.
New York Times
18-06-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Kennedy's Purge Is a ‘Code Red' for Vaccines in America
'Some people believe that the term anti-vaxxer is a pejorative,' the physician Robert Malone wrote on June 9. 'I do not — I view it as high praise.' Early in the pandemic, Malone campaigned for treatment with ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and against mRNA vaccines, which he described as 'causing a form of' AIDS, though he later admitted he received the Moderna vaccine to treat his own long Covid. In 2021, Malone circulated a 2013 video of a high school athlete collapsing on the football field, blaming coronavirus vaccination for the death before he was served with a cease-and-desist letter from the family. More recently, he dismissed as 'misinformation' news reports attributing the deaths of two girls in Texas to measles, blaming not vaccine refusal but 'medical errors,' and last fall published a book, 'PsyWar,' claiming that between the C.I.A. and Department of Defense, the United States maintains 'reality-bending information control capabilities' and that much of federal government's business is conducted via sexual favor. 'The term 'anti-vaxxer,'' he repeated June 9, 'it is not a slur, but a compliment.' Two days later, he was appointed to the advisory board that steers America's vaccine policy. Richard Nixon conducted his 'Saturday night massacre,' back in 1973, when one after another federal prosecutor refused to withdraw a subpoena of the White House tapes. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, staged his night of the long knives a week ago Monday, firing all 17 members of the vaccine advisory board, called the A.C.I.P., in one fell swoop — a historically unprecedented action and one that broke an explicit promise he made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana and a physician, as a condition of his confirmation as secretary. The epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina called Kennedy's move a 'code red' for vaccines in America. None of the A.C.I.P. advisers were warned or had their firings explained; they had to read the news in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that accused them of 'malevolent malpractice.' Cassidy, who dodged questions from reporters on the subject, was left sputtering on X: 'Of course, now the fear is that the A.C.I.P. will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.' Malone, whose appointment to the board hadn't yet been announced, posted proudly, 'Promises made, promises kept.' The new appointees are not all fully committed skeptics — though, beyond Malone, they include several people who have testified in lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, as well as a longstanding board member for an anti-vaccine nonprofit and an M.I.T. business-school professor who has been publicly describing mRNA vaccines as mass killers since 2023. (The choices also include a nutritional scientist focused on fatty acids in the brain and a founder of a biotech company without a single piece of published research to his name.) The new group fails to include experts on any diseases that vaccines prevent. Or experts on vaccines themselves. Or experts on infectious-disease epidemiology. Or experts on clinical trials. 'We've taken people who had expertise and fired them for a bogus reason,' says the University of Pennsylvania vaccinologist Paul Offit, a former member of the A.C.I.P. and the creator of the rotavirus vaccine. In their place have been installed what the bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, also of the University of Pennsylvania, described to me as 'vaccine skeptics.' Offit calls them, more pointedly, 'purveyors of disinformation.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
18-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
InnovationRx: The Dangers Of RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Advisory Committee
In this week's edition of InnovationRx, we look at the dangers of RFK Jr.'s vaccine advisory committee, how Trump's visa ban bars foreign doctors, the first FDA-approved transcontinental telesurgery and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here. Dr. Robert Malone, one of the new members of the vaccine advisory committee, has promoted unproven treatments for Covid-19 and measles. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s remaking of the vaccine advisory committee represents a clear and present danger to public health. Last week, RFK Jr. disbanded the entire 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP. He then replaced the ousted members with eight people of his own choosing. The new members include Robert Malone, a former mRNA researcher who parlayed conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic and has promoted unproven, alternative treatments for both Covid and measles. Other advisors include Martin Kulldorff, also an opponent of Covid shots and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated a herd immunity approach to the pandemic. The speed at which these new members were chosen raised red flags among experts. Until now, potential ACIP appointees were often vetted in a lengthy process that took more than a year to ensure they were qualified and didn't face any potential conflicts of interest. However, several of the new ACIP members don't have any expertise in vaccines or infectious disease, and two of them served as paid experts in a lawsuit against Merck involving its HPV vaccine. The new members are expected to convene at a scheduled ACIP meeting in Atlanta next week. The committee has been giving advice to doctors and patients on vaccination for 60 years. That advice is used by local governments for help in developing policies for schools that keep children safe and by health insurers to determine which vaccines they'll pay for and which they won't. The stakes of this advice is high because vaccination saves lives. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that giving routine vaccinations to children saved 1.1 million lives between 1994 and 2023. The shots also prevented about 508 million illnesses and 32 million hospitalizations in that time period. This past March, 6,653 foreign citizens, educated at foreign medical schools, matched to internships at American hospitals, according to data from the NRMP. Hasiba Karimi was supposed to be seeing patients at a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania hospital in just a few weeks. She is one of 144 foreign-born international medical school graduates who were slated to start their first year of residency in Pennsylvania this year, and are part of a solution to the critical shortage of doctors in the United States. But she won't be stateside anytime soon. That's because Karimi, who lives in Canada and got her medical education in Turkey, was born in Afghanistan. She was scheduled for an H-1B visa appointment on June 9, the same day President Donald Trump's executive order barring individuals from 19 specific countries from entering the United States took effect. While the order outlines some exceptions—including for diplomatic visas; athletes, coaches and relatives traveling for competitions; and for ethnic and religious minorities 'facing persecution in Iran'—it does not carve out an exception for doctors. So now Karimi, who spent years building her experience and resume to win this internship, can only wait and hope. 'One in four pediatric residents in the USA are international medical school graduates, and they are filling those spots in the most underserved communities that American graduates are not even applying to,' says Sebastian Arruarana, a resident physician at the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and an advocate for international medical graduates. 'If this is not solved, who will take care of our children?' Read more here. A gene editing therapy for severe hemophilia B showed promising results in a new study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Between 2010 and 2012, 10 patients who had severe hemophilia B caused by a defect in their DNA that prevented their bodies from making Factor IX, a key blood clotting agent, received the therapy manufactured by St. Jude Research. The treatment they received included the correct gene. Prior to treatment, the patients required regular injections of Factor IX in order to prevent bleeding episodes. The NEJM study found that more than a decade later, the patients who received this gene therapy were still producing Factor IX. Seven of the patients were able to discontinue injections while the others were able to significantly reduce the amount needed. All reported far fewer bleeding incidents with no significant side effects from the medication. Because gene therapies are so expensive (often in the millions of dollars) a big question is whether a single administration can last without the need for additional doses. This study's findings show that it's possible for a treatment to remain durable for more than a decade, which is an encouraging finding for this class of medicine. Plus: 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki will buy back the assets of the company from bankruptcy. She beat out Regeneron Pharmaceuticals with a $305 million bid. And Caris Life Sciences went public on Wednesday, raising $494 million at an expected valuation of more than $5 billion. Digital health startup Sword Health raised $40 million led by General Catalyst at a valuation of $4 billion. The company said it plans to use the new capital to expand its services to mental health care. It announced the launch of a new product, called Mind, that it said would combine an AI 'therapist' with human professionals. On Sunday, a patient in Angola received surgery for his prostate cancer. The team that performed the operation, meanwhile, was in Orlando, Florida–about 7,000 miles away. This was the first intercontinental operation of its kind to be approved by the FDA for a clinical trial of remote robotic surgery. The purpose of the test was to see if robotic surgery of this type could be performed at that distance using fiberoptic cables. The procedure was a success, which could pave the way for more remote procedures, increasing healthcare access in countries lacking in doctors and other resources. The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee ban on transgender care for minors. The justices voted 6-to-3 that limiting access to treatments such as puberty blockers for those under the age of 18 was not sex discrimination. The ruling, written by Justice John Roberts, comes as the Trump Administration has attacked transgender rights and could have an effect on two dozen other states with similar laws on the books. Leading medical groups endorse treatments for gender dysphoria. A federal judge ruled that hundreds of NIH grant terminations were 'void and illegal.' 'I have never seen racial discrimination by the government like this,' Judge William Young said from the bench. A coalition of academic groups proposed an alternative for NIH indirect cost reform in response to the Trump Administration's proposed slashing of billions in research overhead payments. Sarepta and Roche stopped the use of Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy gene therapy Elevidys following two patients' deaths. The governor of Oregon signed a law enacting the country's strictest limits on private equity takeovers of medical practices. Germany's BioNTech agreed to buy rival CureVac to boost cancer research in $1.25 billion deal. South Africa built a medical research powerhouse. Trump's budget cuts have demolished it – and could threaten global progress on everything from heart disease to HIV. Digital startup Tennr raised $101 million at an undisclosed valuation to expand development of its software platform, which lets healthcare services automate and manage their faxes. (Yes, faxes–they're still a thing in healthcare.)
Wall Street Journal
12-06-2025
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
Meet RFK Jr.'s New Vaccine Advisers
We didn't think anyone could do more to damage trust in public health institutions than Anthony Fauci, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is giving it a whirl. See the eccentric crew the Health and Human Services Secretary has tapped to advise the department on vaccines. Mr. Kennedy this week purged the agency's independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), claiming its members had conflicts of interest. Those ostensible conflicts were well-managed. But Mr. Kennedy vowed his committee replacements 'will exercise independent judgment.' Readers can judge whether this is likely to be true. Two of his new members have served as 'expert' witnesses paid by plaintiff attorneys in lawsuits against vaccine makers. Conflicts, anyone? Biostatistician Martin Kulldorff backed claims against Merck over its HPV vaccine. Mr. Kennedy held a financial stake in one of the cases, which after he became secretary he bestowed to his son, who works at the law firm suing Merck, Wisner Baum. Another appointee is biochemist Robert Malone, a loud critic of the Covid mRNA vaccines. He also served as a paid expert in litigation against Merck's mumps vaccine, which was rejected by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Dr. Malone has downplayed the Texas measles outbreak and said two deaths of unvaccinated children owed to medical errors.
