• PUBLIC HEALTHSouth Carolina’s Measles Outbreak Shows Chilling Effect of Vaccine Misinformation

    By Lauren Sausser

    For the first time in more than two decades, the United States is poised to lose its measles elimination status, a designation indicating that outbreaks are rare and rapidly contained. The confluence of larger national trends —including historically low vaccination rates, skepticism fueled by the pandemic, misinformation, and “health freedom” ideologies promoted by conservative politicians —have put communities at risk for the reemergence of a preventable, potentially deadly virus.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHCDC’s New Deputy Director Is Vocal Critic of Vaccines, Advocated for Ivermectin

    By Stephanie Soucheray

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named a critic o COVID vaccines — and a promoter of a worthless alternative to such vaccines – as deputy director of CDC.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEAfter Unprecedented Autism-Vaccine Messaging Change, Scientists, Advocates Say CDC No Longer Trustworthy

    By Liz Szabo and Laine Bergeson

    “Ideology has replaced science as the means for addressing life-saving research and best practices that save lives,” said CIDRAP director Michael T. Osterholm. The “propaganda machine for RFK Jr.’s fixed, immutable, science-resistant theories” has triumphed at the CDC, said Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It’s not enough to push the snake oil. You have to discredit mainstream biomedical science and portray scientists as public enemies or cartoon villains, and that’s what Kennedy’s seeking to do,” said Peter Hotez, codirector of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.

  • REFORMING CDCThe CDC’s Return to Autism Panic Is Exactly Why It Needs Reform

    By Jeffrey A. Singer

    Resurrecting a claim disproven countless times doesn’t protect public health—it undermines trust in the very institution meant to safeguard it. The controversy, however, makes the points I’ve made before even more urgent: The CDC should be restored to its original role —a dedicated partner that supports and coordinates disease-control efforts.

  • VACCINESWhy the CDC Director Is Wrong About the MMR Vaccine

    By Jake Scott, MD

    Jim O’Neill, acting director of the CDC – and thus the head of the agency responsible for disease control — is advocating for dismantling a vaccination program his own agency credits with eliminating rubella and reducing mumps incidence by 99%. O’Neill’s call is linked to President Trump’s similar message. There is no scientific rationale for the proposed change, and the change will pose an immediate risk without any benefit.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEWhy a Study Claiming Vaccines Cause Chronic Illness Is Severely Flawed – a Biostatistician Explains the Biases and Unsupported Conclusions

    By Jeffrey Morris

    At a Senate hearing on Sept. 9, 2025, witnesses supporting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign against vaccination, presented an unpublished study, claiming the study was never published because the authors feared being fired for finding evidence supporting the health risks of vaccines. This claim was false. The study has serious design problems that keep it from revealing much about whether vaccines affect children’s long-term health.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHAs 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.

  • CHINA WATCHPentagon Bans Tech Vendors from Using China-Based Personnel After ProPublica Investigation

    By Renee Dudley

    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.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEHow RFK Jr.’s Misguided Science on mRNA Vaccines Is Shaping Policy − a Vaccine Expert Examines the False Claims

    By Deborah Fuller

    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.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHKennedy Hearing Deepens Crisis Over Dismantling of CDC Leadership - Health Scholar Explains Why the Agency’s Ability to Protect Public Health Is Compromised

    By Jordan Miller

    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.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHHow Vaccines Changed the World

    By Mariel Ferragamo

    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.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHHealth Leaders, Medical Groups: CDC Leader Exodus Puts Nation's Health at Risk

    By Lisa Schnirring

    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.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHChaos 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.

  • COMMON-SENSE NOTES // By Idris B. OdunewuA 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.

  • IMMUNOLOGYImmunologic Study Shows Rebound of Other Viruses After COVID Measures Lifted

    By Lisa Schnirring

    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.