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How RFK Jr. Could Revive a Dormant Task Force to Scrutinize Vaccine Safety
Almost 40 years ago, Congress created a task force to recommend ways to make childhood vaccines safer. The group — made up of officials from key U.S. public health agencies — issued its final report in 1998, and has been defunct ever since.
In the years since, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s allies have zeroed in on the panel to misrepresent the steps the government has taken to ensure the safety of vaccines given to babies and kids.
Now, as RFK Jr. prepares to take the top health role in the Trump administration, reviving the task force could be one way to quickly stand up a panel to scrutinize immunizations — and commitments made following his confirmation hearings indicate this may be part of his plan.
As HHS Secretary, DOGE and Trump May Pose Biggest Hurdles for RFK Jr.
Now that he’s got the job, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may struggle to navigate his new position as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the agency contends with potential job cuts and the administration works to pursue President Donald Trump’s agendas, experts say.
The high-profile anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading misinformation, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote on Thursday. (Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the only Republican to break with his party and vote no.) His selection in November sparked outrage within the scientific community, with many fearing his appointment could undermine decades of public health — particularly vaccination efforts — in the U.S.
However, as HHS secretary, Kennedy may find himself at a disadvantage, as the Department of Government Efficiency, the group headed by billionaire Elon Musk, moves to cut down the size of the federal workforce and reduce spending. Last month, the administration offered roughly two million federal workers the option to resign but be paid through the end of September. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the buyout plan can proceed.
As Officials Prepare for Who-Led Flu Vaccine Meeting, Many Wonder: Will the U.S. Show?
Later this month influenza experts from around the world will gather at the Crick Worldwide Influenza Center in London to pour over data in a multi-day effort, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), to decide which specific viruses next winter’s flu shot should target.
For now, the WHO doesn’t know if U.S. government representatives will show up. Whether they do so could have an impact on the composition, and ultimately the effectiveness, of flu vaccines throughout the Northern Hemisphere and beyond.
The decision on which flu vaccine strains are recommended to manufacturers is normally made by the heads of seven WHO influenza collaborating centers and three key regulatory laboratories.
Traditionally, U.S. government agencies have two of the 10 votes in the room; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is one of the collaborating centers and the Food and Drug Administration is one of the essential regulatory labs.
Senators Call On FDA to Act Against Misleading Weight-Loss Drug Commercials
Commercials run by the telehealth company Hims & Hers have been placed under the microscope as lawmakers are calling out the advertisement of prescriptions for injectable weight-loss drugs without disclosing safety and risk information.
In a currently running advertisement, the direct-to-consumer telehealth company promotes its ability to prescribe and dispense glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist medications to patients. The commercials include claims about the effectiveness of the weight-loss drugs, as well as imagery of an injection pen not unlike an existing brand-name medication.
Last week, ahead of the commercial running during Super Bowl LIX, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.) sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to alert the agency to the advertisement.
“An upcoming Super Bowl advertisement, which has been publicly posted online, appears to showcase a company’s ability to prescribe and dispense GLP-1 medications to patients,” the letter states.
“However, nowhere in this promotion is there any side effect disclosure, risk, or safety information as would be typically required in a pharmaceutical advertisement. Further, for only three seconds during the minute-long commercial does the screen flash in small, barely legible font, that these products are not FDA-approved.”
Sanofi to Take $250M Charge on Study Failure for E. Coli Vaccine
Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson are ending a Phase 3 study of an experimental E. coli vaccine after it failed to show a significant benefit over placebo in a review by an independent monitoring board.
J&J began the study in 2021 and planned to test the vaccine in almost 20,000 adults aged 60 and over at hundreds of locations around the world. The vaccine was designed to fight extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli, a leading cause of sepsis in older adults.
But the vaccine was “not sufficiently effective” at preventing invasive E. coli disease based on the pre-planned interim analysis, Sanofi said Thursday. The research found no concerns with safety, and further analyses will be shared in the future, the company said.
At Least 22 Children and Two Adults Infected in Texas Measles Outbreak
At least 24 cases of measles have been detected in Gaines County, Texas, the state’s Department of State Health Services said this week as it warned that additional cases were likely given the highly infectious nature of the disease.
None of the 24 infected individuals had been immunized with the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine, the health authority said. Two of them are adults, and the other 22 are children. Nine patients were hospitalized.
U.S. vaccination rates for measles have fallen in recent years and continue to decrease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say measles outbreaks in recent years are linked to an increase in the number of parents seeking exemptions from childhood vaccinations following political backlash to coronavirus restrictions and rampant misinformation about vaccine safety, The Washington Post has reported.
As Trump Pauses Enforcement of an Anti-Bribery Law, Will Pharma Engage in Bad Behavior?
Between 2011 and 2020, 10 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies paid a combined $1.34 billion in fines to the U.S. government for bribing foreign officials in order to boost purchases of their medicines.
The law that made it possible is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has been credited with making changes in long-standing industry business practices.
Now, though, President Trump has hit the pause button. In an executive order issued on Monday, federal authorities were instructed to halt new investigations and enforcement actions while U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi reviews existing probes and, notably, assesses the extent to which the law promotes “American interests” and “economic competitiveness.”
