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RFK Jr.’s First Big Defeat on CDC Chief Tests Limits of Vaccine Agenda
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s failure to install a fellow vaccine critic to a key government post is testing the limits of how far the U.S. health secretary can go to promote his public-health agenda.
The White House late Wednesday informed Dave Weldon that officials were pulling his nomination to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after his views on vaccines alarmed key Republican senators. Weldon had been scheduled to attend a Senate panel hearing the following morning, but “there were not the votes” to confirm the nominee, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.
The withdrawal is a blow for Kennedy, who has known Weldon for years. The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) coalition is pursuing multiple avenues to address chronic illness including popular initiatives to investigate food ingredients and, more controversially, to examine whether vaccines are a contributing factor.
While some lawmakers said they set aside their doubts about Kennedy’s vaccine rhetoric, Weldon’s decades of disparagement of shots and his lack of preparation for interviews proved too much for some to overcome.
“The White House used a lot of political capital to get Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in, and I don’t think they were willing to use that amount of capital on a sub-agency head,” said David Mansdoerfer, a former senior Trump appointee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
FDA Makes Flu Vaccine Recommendations After Canceled VRBPAC, Closed-Door Meeting
After canceling a routine meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) to review the composition of the 2025-2026 influenza vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced its recommendations for strain selection following a closed-door meeting with other government agencies.
The meeting was not previously announced or open to the public and took place the same day as the previously scheduled VRBPAC meeting would have taken place, though the agency released slides and an agenda for the meeting after it took place.
The hour-and-a-half-long meeting was attended by officials from FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Defense, and was called to a close 55 minutes before it was scheduled to end, according to a summary released by FDA. Experts who spoke to Focus expressed concern at the VRBPAC meeting’s cancellation.
FDA said its strain selections are similar to last year’s, and while not mentioning the World Health Organization (WHO) in its statement regarding the selection, the recommendation mirrors WHO’s recommendations for the upcoming flu season in the northern hemisphere. The agency added that it “does not anticipate any impact on timing or availability of vaccines for the American public.”
Check out the Family Ties of House Dem Championing Status Quo at NIH
Independent Journal Review reported:
A Democratic member of Congress has emerged as a vocal defender of the status quo at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the son of scientists connected to the embattled government agency.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts expressed opposition to the Trump administration’s cuts at the NIH at a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup on Feb. 25, arguing “curiosity-driven peer reviewed basic research is not meant to pass the politicians’ test.”
But Auchincloss may have a conflict of interest: his parents. Auchincloss’s father, Hugh Auchincloss, was an aide to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci for 16 years. No run-of-the-mill bureaucrat, the senior Auchincloss steered intramural research at NIAID from 2014 to 2015 and stepped in as the acting director of NIAID from 2022 to 2023.
Republicans in US Senate Form Group to Study Restructuring the CDC
Missouri Independent reported:
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy launched a working group on Wednesday that will look at ways to overhaul the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cassidy, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee, wrote in the announcement that the group of seven Republicans would draft legislation at some point to restructure the agency.
“The public depends on CDC to deliver clear, unbiased health guidance, especially in times of crisis. If CDC fails, Americans’ health is threatened,” Cassidy wrote. “While I’m encouraged the Trump administration is committed to improving health transparency, we need lasting legislative reforms to ensure CDC is able to meet Americans’ public health needs. I look forward to working with my Republican colleagues to accomplish this mission.”
The group will include Cassidy, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. The CDC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is the federal government’s main public health agency, tracking disease outbreaks throughout the country and sharing information with the public.
HHS Braces for a Reorganization
The Trump administration is readying to slash the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) workforce again, according to seven people familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the changes.
The announcement could come soon, three of the people said. HHS employees have braced for changes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over as health secretary in early February. In addition to Kennedy’s goals, the Trump administration has tasked him with downsizing key agencies and overhauling their policy priorities. As part of that, HHS agencies were asked to submit budgetary plans, including workforce reductions.
Discussions of a reorganization come as the courts are pushing back on Trump’s initial attempts to shrink the federal government.
