Latest news with #immunization
CTV News
2 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
Alberta adds 38 new measles cases, most in the north
A child is seen in this supplied photo with a measles rash. (Alberta Health Services) Alberta added 38 new measles cases over the weekend. On Monday, the provincial dashboard showed 23 new cases identified in the north zone since Friday. Fourteen were found in the south and another one in the City of Calgary. Two people were in hospital with the virus. The new cases bring the total measles case in Alberta to 1,160 since March. Of those, Alberta Health Services (AHS) reported that eight people were currently known to have an active infection capable of spreading. AHS says all Albertans living in the south, central and northern zones should be aware that there is a 'significant' current risk of measles. Standing advisories are in effect for the south zone and the following locations in the north: The Hamlet of La Crete St. Theresa General Hospital in Fort Vermilion Northwest Health Centre in High Level According to the government, between one and three people out of every 1,000 diagnosed with measles die. One in 1,000 diagnosed with measles will get encephalitis. Everyone in those zones are eligible for additional immunizations, which are recommended for infants aged six months and up, people born before 1970 or people who have not been vaccinated. Anyone with measles symptoms, which include fever, a rash, red eyes, a runny nose and cough, should stay home and call the measles hotline at 1-844-944-3434 before visiting a health-care facility or public place. More information on measles or the latest known exposure locations can be found on the AHS website.
Bloomberg
5 hours ago
- Health
- Bloomberg
RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Panel Is Turning Misinformation Into Policy
Save Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's dismantling of Americans' trust in — and ultimately, access to — vaccines isn't happening with one sweeping policy that grabs the public's attention. It's unfolding quickly and quietly, in bland conference rooms where hand-picked appointees make decisions that will have far-reaching consequences for our health. Inside one of those nondescript rooms last week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent panel that makes vaccine recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offered a glimpse of what's to come. The group, few of whom have any expertise in vaccines, infectious diseases or epidemiology, at times cast aside evidence-based science and sowed doubt in some of our most valuable public health tools.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. opens new chapter in US vaccine policy
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has opened a new chapter of federal vaccine policy that invites questions on issues long considered to be settled and that pushes anti-vaccine priorities into mainstream government guidelines. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he wouldn't undermine vaccines. 'I am not going to go into HHS and impose my preordained opinions on anybody at HHS,' he said. 'I'm going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job and make sure that we have good science that is evidence based.' Over the course of a two-day meeting this week, Kennedy's handpicked panel of vaccine advisers said they would launch an investigation into the cumulative effect of the childhood and adolescent vaccine schedules and consider new recommendations for shots that have long been on the market. 'Vaccines are not all good or bad,' said Martin Kulldorff, the committee's new chair and a former Harvard University professor. 'No questions should be off-limits.' The panel also voted to effectively remove an ingredient from flu shots that has long been the target of anti-vaccine activists, including Kennedy, despite numerous studies showing it is safe. The vote was not unanimous with two of the seven members abstaining or voting 'no' on the question of only recommending thimerosal-free flu vaccines. 'I think this is a prelude to them demonstrating their ability to go in with this committee, make recommendations to pull some of these vaccines,' former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said during a recent CNBC interview. Gottlieb noted the backlash to pandemic-era measures like vaccine mandates launched a backlash Kennedy is taking advantage of. 'We've now built a lot of anti-vaccine sentiment. Secretary Kennedy is fueling that with what he's doing in groups like the ACIP that he's constituted. The consequences of this are going to be felt for years,' Gottlieb said. In early June, Kennedy fired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and installed eight new members, several of whom have openly questioned vaccines. The panel met with just seven members after one person dropped out prior to the meeting. On Thursday, the ACIP voted to no longer recommend any flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal, based on the presentation of a single vaccine critic. Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner and a former leader of Kennedy's anti-vaccine group, said thimerosal is a 'developmental and reproductive toxicant' that never underwent proper safety testing. The CDC removed a copy of her initial presentation from its website earlier this week after it appeared to cite a nonexistent study. Redwood was recently hired by HHS and is listed as an 'expert' in the agency's employee directory. She presented her argument against thimerosal as a private citizen, however, not as a representative of the federal government. Thimerosal is a rarely used ingredient, so the real-world impact of the vote is likely minimal. It's used in multi-dose vials in order to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi and is more commonly used in low-income countries. But the vote showed the panel's willingness to disregard scientific data and empower people with longstanding grievances against the public health establishment and the anti-vaccine movement to make policy recommendations for the entire country. 'What we heard in this meeting was really a false narrative that the current vaccine policies are flawed and that they need fixing,' said Sean O'Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, in a press conference. 'That's completely false. These policies have saved millions of lives, trillions of dollars.' AAP said it will no longer take part in the proceedings because they are not 'credible.' Public health experts said Redwood's presentation at the meeting went against the standards of what a group like the ACIP should uphold. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in the first Trump administration, said in a post on the social platform X that the presentation 'bypassed normal CDC vetting, cherry-picked outdated data, and ignored decades of safety evidence.' Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emerita from the department of epidemiology at the University of Arizona and co-founder of the Defend Public Health advocacy network, described the meeting as a 'circus-like atmosphere' rather than the typically staid, academic one. 'Lynn Redwood was permitted to give a presentation that was just simply deceptive about thimerosal and vaccines. And that type of behavior is really not something that a serious scientific body should be considering,' Jacobs told The Hill. 'It is entirely inappropriate to have a person present at a scientific meeting one side of an issue with very weak evidence and completely ignore the decades of data showing the safety and effectiveness of thimerosal.' One ACIP member, the sole member to vote 'No' on recommending only thimerosal-free flu shots, expressed concerns that the vote could lead to reduced vaccine access abroad as other countries look to the panel for guidance. 'The recommendations that the ACIP makes are followed among many countries around the world and removing thimerosal from all vaccines that are used in other countries, for example, is going to reduce access to these vaccines,' said Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College who previously served on the ACIP. 'It will increase cost. And I think it's important to note that no study has ever indicated any harm from thimerosal. It's been used in vaccines, as was noted by Ms. Redwood, since before World War II,' he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
a day ago
- Health
- CBS News
Transcript: Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 29, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, Pfizer board member and non-executive chairman of the board at Illumina, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 29, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: For a look now at some of the changes to America's public health policies under the Trump administration, we're joined by former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board at Pfizer and is now the Chairman of the Board at Illumina. Good morning. Good to see you. DOCTOR SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Good morning. MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, Dr. Gottlieb, you worked in the first Trump administration. This second Trump administration seems very different in its approach to public health on a lot of fronts. One of them was really laid bare this week with this newly remade Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. Secretary Kennedy had dismissed about 17 members of the existing board and put in some members of his own choice. And in a video, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said federal immunization policy is, quote, 'no longer a credible process' and it's being politicized at the expense of children. That's a pretty stunning statement. Do you agree with the Academy of Pediatrics? DR. GOTTLIEB: Look, you're right. I worked in the first Trump administration. I was fortunate to do that and proud to serve in that administration. I think we did a lot of important things on public health. We presided over the first cell and gene therapy approvals. The president tried to expand access to those treatments through the Right to Try legislation that he championed. He supported the FDA on an effort to try to keep tobacco products out of the hands of kids, record number of generic approvals, and a lot of other accomplishments. I think a lot of people on my side of the political aisle feel that a lot of these policies that Secretary Kennedy is championing are- are going to be contained to vaccines and not bleed into a broader public health doctrine. I think that's not right. I think there's a lot of people now who don't think these things are particularly political, or shouldn't be, and don't think these decisions should be politically decided, who are going to find when they go to the doctor's office that vaccines that they may want to protect their lives or the lives of their families aren't going to be available. This does look like a political process right now. The secretary is going after issues that have long been bugaboos of him and his anti-vax group, Children's Health Defense. I don't think that's mistakable at this point. I think that he would probably acknowledge that. That he's taking on issues that he's championed for the last 20 years to restrict access to certain vaccines. That's going to grow. The list is growing, and it's going to start to be very tangible for people and go well beyond just the COVID vaccine, which is, I think, what most people think about when they perceive this administration's, or the secretary's efforts, to try to restrict access to vaccines. MARGARET BRENNAN: So one of the specific things from this meeting was advice to avoid flu vaccines containing an ingredient called thimerosal. Right around the same time as the meeting, the CDC removed information from its website that debunked claims that this ingredient was linked to autism. Secretary Kennedy says it's- it's journalists who are obscuring the truth. What do people need to know about the flu vaccine and this ingredient? DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, so this is an old ingredient. It's a preservative used in multi-dose vials of flu vaccine, primarily. Only a very small percentage of flu vaccine vials still contain it. What it is is an ingredient that's added to multi-dose vials because those vials you're going to go in and out of with different needles as you administer the vaccine to different patients. So they're not single dose injections. They're multi-dose vials that primarily used in some busy clinics, almost exclusively in adults right now. Back in the early 2000s, I was at FDA when we reformulated the vaccine, so we compelled manufacturers to reformulate the vaccines to take this preservative out. Not because we thought it was unsafe, but because there was a lot of consternation among anti-vax groups that they thought that there was a link between this ingredient and autism. The ingredient does contain small amounts of ethylmercury, not methylmercury, ethylmercury, which is the same kind of mercury found in fish, in very small- very small amounts. And so we compelled the manufacturers to reformulate the vast majority of vaccines, still four percent of flu vaccines that get administered, mostly to adults, are from these multi-dose vials. This has long been a bugaboo of the secretary and his group, the Children's Health Defense Fund. In fact, the only presentation at the ACIP meeting was from the head of that group. And you're right that there was a countering analysis from the CDC officials asserting that there's no link between thimerosal and autism. That- that analysis was taken down from the website. The secretary put out a statement that said that it wasn't- it didn't go through proper review. MARGARET BRENNAN: We're going to take a break, Dr. Gottlieb, and talk more with you on the other side of this. These are complicated issues I want to dig into with you. So we hope all of you will stay with us. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Dr. Gottlieb, just to pick back up, we were talking about the meeting that took place this past week with the newly reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, you know him, he's a doctor. He has oversight and chairs the Health Committee. He called for the meeting to be canceled because he said there's no CDC director in place. And when it comes to these appointees, he said many of them 'do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology' and they may have 'preconceived bias' against mRNA vaccines. It's- I'm not a doctor, but it seems to me that experience in immunology would be important if you're advising on immunizations. His counsel was ignored here. Is there any check on Secretary Kennedy, at this point? Is there a need to get a CDC director in place quickly? DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, well, the CDC director had a confirmation hearing this week, and hopefully she'll be in place soon. I think she's quite strong and a good pick for that job. The board, this ACIP board, isn't fully constituted. There's only seven members on the board. At its peak membership, it has about 15. And you're right, a lot of the people who have been appointed don't have deep experience, or any experience, quite frankly, in vaccine science. They are people who have been ideologically aligned with Secretary Kennedy in the past and worked with him, many of them, not all of them. And I think that that isn't something that even the secretary would probably dispute at this time, and it did lead to some awkward moments at that meeting. For example, you know, one member had to have explained to him the difference between an antibody prophylaxis and a vaccine. So there were evidence in that discussion where the CDC directors had to provide some, quite frankly, remedial assistance to help brief these members on the basis of vaccine science. So it did show, hopefully, once they fully constitute that board, you're going to get more balance on it. I think some people are skeptical. I remain hopeful that there will be some good members that get seated eventually. MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, one of the things about the American health system is that question of continued innovation. Earlier this month, the FDA approved a twice yearly injection of an HIV prevention drug called lenacapavir. How significant is an innovation like that, and given the environment you're talking about, will these new advisors get in the way of being able to get those kind of things to market? DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, this shouldn't come before ACIP. So this is a therapeutic. It's a long acting antiviral that provides six months of protection against HIV and was extremely effective at preventing HIV infection in a population that was high risk of contracting HIV. So it's a change in the formulation of an antiviral that allows it to be administered just twice a year and provide sustained exposure to the benefits of that antiviral. We're seeing a lot of innovation like this. There was also news this week from a small biotech company that I don't have any involvement with, that they had developed a pill that could provide sustained protection against flu. So it's an antiviral, but it is formulated in a way where it- it could be administered once ahead of flu season, to provide protection across the entire season, and also look to be very effective. So we're seeing a lot of innovations like this. What I'm worried about is innovation in vaccine science. I work on the venture capital side, where we make investments in- in new companies, and there has been a pullback of biotech startups that have been looking to develop new vaccines, for example, vaccines for Epstein-Barr Virus, which we know is linked to certain B-cell lymphomas, and maybe is linked to multiple sclerosis. That- that's a new area of science, the potential to vaccinate children against that, much like we vaccinate kids against HPV right now and prevent cervical cancer and other types of cancers. Maybe in the future, we may be vaccinating for EBV, but there's been a lot of pullback to that kind of investment. So I think we're going to see less innovation in vaccine science as a result of the environment we're in. MARGARET BRENNAN: Quickly, Secretary Kennedy was asked this week about the declarations in some states to start removing fluoride from water. Oklahoma made some moves that direction. He said you're going to see 'probably slightly more cavities,' but 'there's a direct inverse correlation between the amount of fluoride in your water and your loss of IQ.' What should parents be thinking about when they hear things like that? DR. GOTTLIEB: Well, look, this has been a long standing issue, another issue that Secretary Kennedy has championed over his career, this perceived- perception that there's a link between fluoride and water and some neurotoxic effects of that. That's been studied thoroughly. It's been, I think, fully debunked. There's very small amounts of fluoride in water, and at the levels that it's put into the water supply, it's been demonstrated to be safe. CDC's- has data showing that there's a 25% reduction in dental caries as a result of fluoride that's added routinely to the water supply. It's not just a question of increased dental cavities, but also oral health more generally, which we know is correlated to systemic health. MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Gottlieb, good to get your insight today. We'll be right back.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
US pediatricians criticize RFK Jr's new vaccine panel: ‘Truly an embarrassment'
Robert F Kennedy Jr's newly appointed vaccine advisory panel is facing criticism from pediatricians after its announcement of plans to reassess the current vaccination schedules for children and adolescents. Experts warn that the move appears designed to undermine public trust in immunization. The chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, Dr Sean O'Leary, said during a Wednesday press briefing that the rest of the world is looking at the US and its new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) 'in horror'. 'It is truly an embarrassment at this point, what's happening with ACIP,' said O'Leary. Related: RFK Jr's vaccine panel recommends new RSV treatment for infants While the new ACIP has instigated chaos among vaccine policy infrastructure during their Wednesday meeting, the AAP emphasized a need to continue a commitment to publishing independent, science-based vaccine guidelines. Wednesday marked the first ACIP meeting since health secretary Kennedy dismissed all 17 existing voting members and installed eight new ones, a group that reportedly lost one member before the meeting convened. Some of these new appointees have been associated with the spread of vaccine misinformation. The AAP representatives abstained from participating because they view the new ACIP as 'illegitimate'. The AAP's own meeting was scheduled to immediately follow the ACIP session, giving pediatric experts an opportunity to respond to the new committee's statements and direction. 'What we heard in this meeting was really a false narrative that the current vaccine policies are flawed and that they need fixing. That's completely false,' said O'Leary. 'Vaccine policies have saved millions of lives, trillions of dollars, and our immunization system is a model for the rest of the world.' Among the ACIP's early initiatives is a separate working group that plans to examine vaccines that have not undergone a recent review, specifically those not studied in over seven years. One vaccine that drew immediate attention is the hepatitis B birth dose. O'Leary criticized the focus on reviewing vaccine schedules, which he says 'has been an anti-vaccine trope for many, many years'. A schedule review 'sounds good at first glance, but the fact is, these vaccines are essentially always being reviewed in real time through a number of different mechanisms, safety surveillance mechanisms, as well as disease surveillance mechanisms', O'Leary said. 'The hepatitis B birth dose is one of the cornerstones of our hepatitis B prevention policy here in the US, and it has been highly successful in reducing the rate of perinatally acquired hepatitis B,' he added. An AAP article says that infants infected with hepatitis B at birth face a 90% likelihood of developing chronic infection. Without medical intervention, roughly 25% of those children will die from the disease. Kennedy's decision to overhaul the ACIP has sparked concern among medical professionals. The new panel's review includes vaccines like the MMR shot, which protects against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox), as well as the hepatitis B vaccine given at birth. 'We do still need to maintain higher coverage in the US of MMR, you're seeing the measles outbreaks in real time,' O'Leary said. 'We need to maintain very high measles vaccination coverage. And this ACIP discussion, to me, is designed to sow distrust in measles vaccination.' The US is now enduring the largest measles outbreak in decades. Centered in west Texas, the measles outbreak has killed two unvaccinated children and one adult and spread to neighboring states. Measles had been declared eliminated from the US in 2000, but it has been spreading in undervaccinated communities.
