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GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy Breaks With Trump on Linking Tylenol to Autism: ‘Not the Case’
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a licensed physician who chairs the Senate committee that oversees health care policy, publicly split with the Trump administration over Monday’s advisory that pregnant women not use Tylenol.
Cassidy (R-La.), who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, argued in a statement that the “preponderance of evidence” shows there is no solid link between the pain reliever and a spike in autism diagnoses, while calling on the Trump administration to release evidence underpinning that conclusion.
“I understand and applaud President Trump’s desire to address this issue and to support HHS [Health and Human Services],” Cassidy wrote on X. “HHS should release the new data that it has to support this claim,” he added. “The preponderance of evidence shows that this is not the case. The concern is that women will be left with no options to manage pain in pregnancy. We must be compassionate to this problem.”
Google to Bring Back Accounts Banned at Biden Admin’s Insistence: ‘Unacceptable and Wrong’
Google told House lawmakers Tuesday that it would reinstate YouTube accounts that the Biden administration “pressed” them to “remove” over content related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alphabet chief counsel Daniel Donovan told members of the House Judiciary that the 46th administration “created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation.”
“It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company [Alphabet] moderates content,” Donovan wrote, “and the Company has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds.”
Users including current FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, now-White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka and “War Room” podcast host Steve Bannon had been yanked off the video site in recent years after being flagged for repeated violations of COVID-19 and “elections integrity” policies.
Illinois Committee Recommends State Part Ways With Feds on COVID-19 Vaccines
Illinois health leaders should part ways with the federal government when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines and recommend the shots for all adults and many children, an influential state committee voted Monday. The Illinois Department of Public Health Immunization Advisory Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend updated COVID-19 vaccines for all Illinois residents ages 18 and older. And they voted to recommend the shots for all children ages 6 to 23 months old.
The committee also recommended vaccines for children between the ages of two and 17 if they are in higher risk groups, or if their parents want them to have the shot. The recommendations aren’t final for Illinois, but the state health department will consider the committee’s votes when releasing its official recommendations for Illinois later this week, said Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the state health department.
Vohra noted during the meeting Monday that the committee’s discussions this year were “not routine practice for this committee.” The discussions and votes Monday were necessary because “the federal government is no longer practicing the science-based processes that have guided vaccine based recommendations for decades,” Vohra said.
Gov. Shapiro Directs Pa. Health Insurers to Disregard New Recommendations From CDC Vaccine Panel
Pennsylvania Capital Star reported:
Pennsylvania is continuing to break away from federal health agencies led by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday that private health insurance companies operating in the state are required to cover all vaccines recommended by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine panel in 2024, under the Biden administration.
The announcement comes as the vaccine panel — the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — handed down a major change in recommendation for the combined measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox vaccine during a contentious meeting last week.
Last week’s two-day meeting marked the first gathering of the all-new panel appointed by RFK Jr., with some appointees joining the group just days before. Members voted on Friday to recommend against a dose of the combined MMRV vaccine before a child turns four, after having initially voted Thursday to leave the decision to parents.
Minnesota Department of Health Endorses COVID-19 Vaccination ‘Without Additional Barriers’
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) on Monday, Sept. 22, encouraged COVID-19 vaccination for all people ages six months and older, endorsing recommendations from national medical associations rather than the federal government. The three medical associations — the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — recommend that everyone six months or older receive the updated 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine “without additional barriers.”
Additionally, the groups strongly recommend vaccination for those under two, those who are 65 or older, those who are pregnant and people of any age with high-risk conditions.
“Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements in modern medicine and help protect people of all ages,” said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, MDH’s medical director and state epidemiologist. “We encourage people to talk to their health care provider about all of the vaccines that are recommended for them, especially flu, RSV and COVID-19 vaccines, right now as we enter the respiratory disease season.”
The state health department’s endorsement of medical associations’ vaccine recommendations is a change from previous years. Historically, the department would endorse the federal government’s guidance, MDH said in its announcement.
