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Acting CDC Director Calls to ‘Break up’ the Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine Into Three Shots
Acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Jim O’Neill on Monday called on vaccine manufacturers to develop separate shots for measles, mumps and rubella instead of the current vaccine, which combines the three.
O’Neill wrote in a post on X that manufacturers should replace the MMR vaccine with “safe monovalent vaccines,” which only target one virus. His statement referenced a recent comment from President Donald Trump, who advised people last month on Truth Social to “break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots.”
However, no monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps or rubella are approved in the U.S., and the CDC says there is no published scientific evidence that shows a benefit to separating the combined vaccine. It is not clear whether the change O’Neill is calling for is possible or likely to come about.
NIH Launches New Multimillion-Dollar Initiative to Reduce U.S. Stillbirth Rate
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a five-year, $37 million stillbirth consortium in a pivotal effort to reduce what it has called the country’s “unacceptably high” stillbirth rate. The announcement last week thrilled doctors, researchers and families and represented a commitment by the agency to prioritize stillbirth, the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more.
“What we’re really excited about is not only the investment in trying to prevent stillbirth, but also continuing that work with the community to guide the research,” Alison Cernich, acting director of the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in an interview.
Four clinical sites and one data coordinating center spanning the country — California, Oregon, Utah, New York and North Carolina — will come together to form the consortium, each bringing its own expertise. Most will focus on ways to predict and prevent stillbirths, though they also plan to address bereavement and mental health after a loss. Research shows that of the more than 20,000 stillbirths in the U.S. each year, as many as 25% may be prevented. For deliveries at 37 weeks or more, that figure jumps to nearly half.
Wary of RFK Jr., Colorado Started Revamping Its Vaccine Policies in the Spring
As Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s dismantling of federal vaccine policy continues to roil the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some Democratic-led states have struck out on their own, setting up new systems to help them assess the science and maintain immunization access for their residents.
Four western states — California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington — have created a collaborative to preserve access to vaccines. Several northeastern states have done the same. New York’s governor declared a “statewide disaster emergency” that allows pharmacists to give covid-19 vaccines without a separate prescription. Minnesota made a similar change, and Massachusetts is requiring insurance carriers to pay for vaccines recommended by its health department, not only those recommended by the CDC.
The changes represent a significant shift in public health authority from the federal government to the states. Traditionally, states have looked to the CDC for expertise and guidance on public health issues — including, in addition to vaccines, workplace safety, water fluoridation, vaping, and sexually transmitted infections.
Gallego Demands Transparency in Trump’s Deal With Pfizer
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is raising concerns over the lack of details given about President Trump’s “most favored nation” (MFN) pricing deal he announced with Pfizer this week, calling on the company’s CEO to explain how it plans to execute the agreement. In a letter to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, provided to The Hill, Gallego asked for clarity in his agreement with the Trump administration.
Bourla announced Tuesday at the White House that his company would be complying with all four of Trump’s demands written out in his MFN executive order, signed in May.
The order called on manufacturers to provide preferential pricing to all Medicaid patients, required they not give better prices to other developed countries for new drugs, create direct-to-consumer sale platforms and use trade policy to raise prices internationally so that revenue is reinvested into lowering American prices.
“To date, few details about this deal have been made public. While the White House touted the agreement as a win for patients, neither the Administration nor Pfizer has disclosed which drugs are covered, what prices have been agreed to, or how patients will benefit,” Gallego wrote.
New MAHA Initiative Around Biomedical Research Is Uniting the GOP With Some Unusual Bed Fellows
The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement has attracted a wide range of Americans for a variety of reasons but, most recently, one of the nation’s foremost animal rights groups, PETA, has teamed up with the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to push one of its latest initiatives.
Last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would spend $87 million on a new Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, which will research alternative methods to reduce scientists’ reliance on animals for biomedical research testing. The initiative also includes policies to support the rehousing of animals used in scientific research.
“We’ve been working with NIH to give them background information on areas of disease research where the animal experiments have failed so tremendously, and there’s the most potential to really shift the game over to human-relevant methods,” Emily Trunnell, director of science advancement and outreach at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), told Fox News Digital.
“About a month ago, we sent them these seven horrific grants … anybody could look at the things they’re doing to like monkeys and dogs and just be like, there’s no way taxpayers need to be funding this. So we continue to push them in that way. We are supportive and providing help where we’re asked, and we do think they’re going in the right direction.”
