Public health

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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Health Leaders, Medical Groups: CDC Leader Exodus Puts Nation's Health at Risk
As news broke of the ouster of newly confirmed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, PhD, and the resignations of some of the agency’s top scientists, reactions came fast and furious from public health leaders, professional groups, and lawmakers.
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Chaos Continues at CDC
RFK Jr. has replaced the scientists who served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with individuals who share his skepticism about the efficacy of vaccines in fighting disease. These vaccine-skeptics have formed a new working group to review the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and named an operation research professor with no background in medicine, or in science more generally, to chair the working group. Chaos ensued.
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What Is the Potentially Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria and Why Can Infections Be So Hard to Treat?
Vibrio vulnificus thrives in warm, salty water. Cases are on the rise, with a man on Cape Cod being one of the latest to fall ill.
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A Shining Star in a Contentious Legacy: Could Marty Makary Be the Saving Grace of a Divisive Presidency?
While much of the Trump administration has sparked controversy, the FDA’s consumer-first reforms may be remembered as its brightest legacy. From AI-driven drug reviews to bans on artificial dyes, the FDA’s agenda resonates with the public in ways few Trump-era policies have.
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Parasitic Diseases Researcher Talks “Flesh-Eating” Screwworm Infection After First Confirmed Human Case in U.S.
True to its name, the flesh-eating screwworm larvae do indeed thrive on mammalian (human included) tissue, says Lori Ferrins, who studies neglected parasitic diseases.
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The CDC Shooting Was a Matter of Time, Health Experts Say
“A lot of the current political rhetoric is not a good-faith discussion or debate, but outright labeling of other humans as somehow evil and not worthy of walking the earth,” says Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health. In a conversation with The Trace, she notes that “It is almost inevitable that when you combine evil rhetoric with isolation, lack of support for physical and mental health, and lack of ability to temporarily remove a firearm from someone who has the intent to kill, that we’re gonna end up with tragedies.”
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Filtered Data Stops Openly Available AI Models from Performing Dangerous Tasks
Researchers have reported a major advance in safeguarding open-weight language models. By filtering out potentially harmful knowledge during training, the researchers were able to build models that resist subsequent malicious updates – especially valuable in sensitive domains such as biothreat research.
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Immunologic Study Shows Rebound of Other Viruses After COVID Measures Lifted
The lifting of COVID-19 prevention measures such as masking and social distancing, which also tamped down the circulation of other respiratory viruses and left young children without immunity, may explain the rebound in non-COVID-related diseases.
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HHS Scraps Further Work on Life-Saving mRNA Vaccine Platform
In what experts say will hobble pandemic preparedness, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the dismantling of the country’s mRNA vaccine-development programs—the same innovation that allowed rapid scale-up of COVID-19 vaccines during the public health emergency.
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