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Health Care Organization Launches ‘Stop RFK War Room’
Democratic-aligned health care advocacy groups are putting together a strategy to fight Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
During an organizing call on Monday, the details of which have not been reported publicly, more than 200 people from several dozen of those groups, along with other advocacy organizations, discussed strategies to oppose Kennedy’s nomination. That included which Republican senators to target and the most effective way to talk to them, according to Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care. “We’re nowhere near conceding he’s going to be the next HHS secretary,” he said.
How RFK Jr’s War on Obesity in the Age of Ozempic Could Shake up the Booming Weight-Loss Industry
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s proposed appointment to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could have big consequences for a booming weight-loss market.
The healthcare industry has been torn about what Trump’s second term could mean for patient access — and investors’ wallets — as the president-elect’s priorities come into view.
Now, with Kennedy tapped to oversee the federal health agencies he’s been widely critical of, including the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, obesity looks to be at the top of the docket.
Before his nomination, Kennedy outlined the overarching to-do list for his “Make America Healthy Again” platform in a Nov. 6 post on X. Along with a promise to “clean up corruption” in federal health agencies, he said he’s been tapped by Trump to end the chronic disease epidemic. And he’s vowed to go after the processed food industry and Big Pharma to make healthy eating front and center for Americans.
His likely appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the weight-loss industry, as long-lasting shortages of drugs like Ozempic come to an end. Kennedy tore into Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk in a Sept. 26 X post, pointing to his plan to address a “sick food system” rather than “gladden the wallets of distant Big Pharma execs.” (Novo’s stock dropped more than 4% following the news of Kennedy’s nomination.)
Study Reveals Why COVID-19 Vaccine Antibodies Wane Rapidly
Research led by scientists at Emory University in Atlanta found that while tetanus and influenza vaccines prompt the body to produce long-lived plasma cells that generate antibodies, COVID-19 vaccines do not. The study may explain why antibody protection from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines wanes so rapidly.
The mRNA vaccines cause the body to produce short-lived plasma cells that can only generate antibodies for a period of time before dying off. Vaccines like tetanus give long-lasting immunity, with antibodies persisting in the body for up to 10 years. COVID-19 antibodies rapidly wane three to six months after vaccination, often resulting in breakthrough infections.
The study’s senior author, Dr. Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, professor of medicine and director of Emory University’s Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology program, told The Epoch Times that it is still unclear why COVID-19 vaccines do not confer durable antibody immunity, though there are several possibilities.
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Over 50% of U.S. Adults Qualify for Ozempic, Wegovy
More than half of all adults in the U.S. are eligible for semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus), researchers estimated. Among 25,531 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2015 to 2020, 8,504 were eligible for semaglutide, representing an estimated 136.8 million adults across the country. All met the criteria for at least one of three indications that the drug is currently approved for — diabetes, weight management, or secondary cardiovascular disease prevention, reported Dhruv S. Kazi, M.D., MSc, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues.
“This exceeds the number of adults eligible for statins (approximately 82 million), currently the most prescribed pharmaceuticals among U.S. adults,” they wrote in a research letter in JAMA Cardiology.The findings were also presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting.
A Simple Litmus Test for RFK Jr.’s Ideas
A number of American commenters have been hand-wringing about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be the secretary of Health and Human Services, which would put him in charge of such critical agencies as the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“He supports people being able to purchase raw milk, don’t you know!”
“He wants to discourage municipal water plants from adding fluoride!”
“He says MMR vaccines cause autism!”
After Donald Trump nominated RFK Jr. for the post, Time magazine called him “a vaccine skeptic who spreads medical disinformation and conspiracy theories,” and quoted Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law as saying of his nomination, “I can’t think of a darker day for public health and science.” But I think we need to draw distinctions.
