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As Tensions Over RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policy Mount, States Act to Secure Access to Vaccines
In an effort to secure the health of their citizens, several states have acted quickly to preserve vaccine access through legislation, bills, executive orders, and regional collaborations that can issue independent recommendations and expand pharmacy-based administration of vaccines regardless of federal guidance. The action reflects a loss of confidence in the CDC and its vaccination committee which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stacked with vaccine skeptics.
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Pentagon Bans Tech Vendors from Using China-Based Personnel After ProPublica Investigation
The Defense Department has tightened cybersecurity requirements for its cloud services providers. The changes come after ProPublica revealed how Microsoft’s use of China-based engineers left sensitive government data vulnerable to hacking.
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Vaccine Death and Side Effects Database Relies on Unverified Reports – and Trump Officials and Right-Wing Media Are Applying It Out of Context
In its meeting over the last two days, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has discussed reports linking 25 child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines. These death reports are derived from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a database the anti-vaccine movement and conspiracy theorists have used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Universal COVID Vaccination Saves Lives, Averts 10% to 20% of Disease Burden, Estimates Suggest
A modeling study today in JAMA Network Open estimates that COVID-19 vaccination of all people in the United States in 2024-25 would have prevented 10% to 20% of hospitalizations and deaths compared with no vaccination, with additional indirect benefits to older adults compared with vaccinating only high-risk groups.
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More States Protect Access to the COVID Shot as Feds Restrict Eligibility
At least 17 states have taken steps to ensure broader access to the COVID-19 vaccine since last month, when the federal government significantly restricted eligibility for the shot. The moves represent an extraordinary state rebellion against the public health authority of the federal government.
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West Coast Health Alliance Adopts Vaccine Recommendations
Governors of California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii announced Wednesday their states have agreed on winter recommendations for flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines. The states will base future immunization guidance on independent medical organizations instead of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
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Funding Cuts to U.S. HIV Preventive Services Could Lead to Thousands More Cases, Billions in Costs
Two just-published studies estimate the health and economic consequences of reducing, interrupting, or ceasing HIV preventive services in the United States, revealing thousands of new infections and costs in the billions over the next decade.
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How RFK Jr.’s Misguided Science on mRNA Vaccines Is Shaping Policy − a Vaccine Expert Examines the False Claims
On Kennedy’s instructions, NIH is funneling money away from new mRNA technologies toward a single project developing universal vaccines based on traditional whole-virus vaccine technology. Kennedy justified the decision with a series of false assertions about vaccines and their underlying technology. Abandoning mRNA vaccine research may lead to lives needlessly lost, whether due to potential medicines untapped or to pandemic unpreparedness.
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Kennedy Hearing Deepens Crisis Over Dismantling of CDC Leadership - Health Scholar Explains Why the Agency’s Ability to Protect Public Health Is Compromised
CDC, long considered the nation’s –if not the world’s –premier public health organization, is unraveling. The reason: HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s effort to emasculate the agency, undermine its scientific foundations, replace scientists in the agency with unqualified anti-vaxxers, do away with its evidence-to-recommendations framework, and promote skepticism, if not rejection, of science and scientific methods. Public health professionals are now warning the public that vaccine recommendations coming from the CDC may not be trustworthy.
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Former NIH Officials File Whistleblower Complaint
Two former top NIH officials have filed whistleblower complaints, claiming they were removed from leadership positions over their objections to agency leadership’s hostility toward vaccines, politicization of scientific research, and suspension of funding for clinical trials and foreign research.
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COVID Vaccine Myth-Busting Can Work: Study
A COVID-19 misinformation-busting messaging intervention that presented a myth followed by a fact among people who had completed the initial vaccine series strengthened their resolve to follow up with a booster dose.
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We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who served as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations, serving under presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trrump, argue that HHS Secretary Roert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a clear and present danger to the health of Americans. He has placed anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists at top HHS positions, and he appears to be guided by a hostility to science and a belief in bizarre, unscientific approaches to public health.
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Florida Plans to Scrap Kid Vaccine Mandates as HHS Employees Demand RFK Jr Resignation
In ongoing upheaval over antivaccine policies espoused by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his allies in Florida today—in a national first—announced plans to scrap requirements for school-based vaccination.
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How Vaccines Changed the World
Vaccination campaigns have nearly eradicated some of the most deadly and transmissible diseases. However, against a backdrop of a rising tide of vaccine hesitancy, and U.S. leaders pulling global support, outbreaks are cropping up again.
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The Rising Threat to New York City’s Food System
The Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, the largest of its kind in the country, serves as the penultimate stop for 4.5 billion pounds of food that feed the city and surrounding areas each year. Losing access to that hub could be catastrophic for a city that produces almost none of its own food.
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The long view
Critical Action Needed to Address Growing Biosecurity Risks
A new report warns that biosecurity risks are increasing. Emerging technologies and other trends are making biological threats more numerous, frequent, and consequential. The report outlines how emerging biotechnology must itself be used to secure biology, akin to how software is required to secure software.
Funding Cuts, Policy Shifts, and the Erosion of U.S. Scientific and Public Health Capacity
The U.S. continues to face mounting threats to its health, scientific enterprise, and national security. A recent report warns that proposed FY 2026 budget cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could reduce its funding by more than half – from $9 billion in FY 2025 to under $4 billion. If passed by Congress, these cuts would result in an estimated ~$11 billion in economic losses.
How RFK Jr.’s Misguided Science on mRNA Vaccines Is Shaping Policy − a Vaccine Expert Examines the False Claims
On Kennedy’s instructions, NIH is funneling money away from new mRNA technologies toward a single project developing universal vaccines based on traditional whole-virus vaccine technology. Kennedy justified the decision with a series of false assertions about vaccines and their underlying technology. Abandoning mRNA vaccine research may lead to lives needlessly lost, whether due to potential medicines untapped or to pandemic unpreparedness.