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Gov. Jeff Landry Appoints Vaccine Skeptic as New Louisiana Surgeon General
Gov. Jeff Landry has appointed Evelyn Griffin, a doctor who has worked on maternal mortality and voiced skepticism about vaccines, to be Louisiana’s next surgeon general.
“Her clinical experience, her leadership in advancing maternal health, and her dedication to strengthening the doctor-patient relationship make her the exact right choice for this role,” Gov. Jeff Landry said in a release Monday announcing Griffin’s appointment. “With Dr. Griffin stepping in, I’m confident Louisiana is in good hands and headed toward a healthier, stronger future.”
Griffin is a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, the top vaccine advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was appointed to the panel by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has campaigned against vaccines.
NM health department maintains hepatitis B vaccine schedule, despite CDC committee recomendation
The New Mexico Department of Health on Monday said it continues to “strongly recommend” newborns receive hepatitis B vaccinations, including the first dose within the first 24 hours of birth. The announcement follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ vote on Friday to recommend delaying the initial dose for babies whose mothers test negative for hepatitis B.
According to a news release from the CDC, the committee instead recommended “individual-based decision-making” for parents whose children were born to women who tested negative for the virus. And for those infants not receiving a dose at birth, ACIP recommended administering the initial dose no earlier than two months of age.
In a news release, NMDOH noted that its recommendation aligns with the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other professional health organizations. Following ACIP’s vote, American Academy of Pediatrics President Dr. Susan J. Kressly released a statement calling the guidance “irresponsible and purposely misleading,” and said it would “lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.”
The NMDOH news also said the three-dose vaccination series against hepatitis B “provides protection into adulthood and significantly decreases risk for hepatitis B-associated liver diseases, including cancer,” and will continue to be available through the federal Vaccines for Children program as well as Medicaid and private insurance.
MAHA Activists Urge Trump to Fire His E.P.A. Administrator
Several prominent activists in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement are urging President Trump to fire Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over his decisions to loosen restrictions on harmful chemicals. In a petition circulated on social media, the activists wrote that Mr. Zeldin “has prioritized the interests of chemical corporations over the well-being of American families and children.”
The petition was a remarkable rebuke of the EPA chief from allies of another cabinet member, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary and the chief architect of the MAHA movement. It underscored growing tensions within Mr. Trump’s political base over the chemicals in the nation’s air, water and food supply. As of early Friday afternoon, more than 2,800 people had signed the petition. The organizers included Vani Hari, a MAHA influencer who is known as the Food Babe to her 2.3 million Instagram followers, and Alex Clark, the host of a health and wellness podcast popular among conservatives.
Asked about the petition, E.P.A. spokesman Mike Bastasch said in an email, “Administrator Zeldin has been working closely with President Trump and Secretary Kennedy to implement policies to Make America Healthy Again.” He said that Mr. Zeldin had taken many steps to improve people’s health, such as signing an agreement with Mexico to end the flow of raw sewage into the Tijuana River.
Under Former Chemical Industry Insiders, Trump EPA Nearly Doubles Amount of Formaldehyde Considered Safe to Inhale
The chemical industry finally got its wish. Industry lobbyists have long pushed the federal government to adopt a less stringent approach to gauging the cancer risk from chemicals, one that would help ease regulations on companies that make or use them.
Last week, in a highly unusual move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) embraced that approach in announcing that it is revising an assessment of the health dangers posed by formaldehyde, a widespread pollutant that causes far more cancer than any other chemical in the air. Working on that effort were two of those former industry insiders, who are now top EPA officials.
The proposed revisions to the assessment, released Wednesday, nearly double the amount of formaldehyde considered safe to inhale compared with the version that was finalized in the last weeks of the Biden administration. Even that older assessment significantly underestimated the dangers posed by formaldehyde, a ProPublica investigation published last year found.
