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RFK Jr.’s High-Risk Gamble: Inside the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Upheaval
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering sweeping reforms to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program — the legal and financial scaffolding that supports America’s vaccine ecosystem. According to POLITICO reporting, Kennedy’s advisers have floated expanding eligibility for vaccine-related brain injury to include some severe autism cases, a proposal that alarms both drug manufacturers and public-health experts.
TrialSite is aware of other currently confidential projects meant to find ways to support vaccine injured populations: including persons injured by COVID-19 vaccines with no recourse due to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.
Advocating for COVID-19 vaccine injuries is the tireless effort of React19, the largest non-profit committed to advocating for persons injured by COVID-19 vaccines.
US HHS Names Pediatric Cardiologist Milhoan as Chair of Vaccine Panel
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday named pediatric cardiologist Kirk Milhoan as chair of the panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy. According to the draft agenda posted on the agency’s website on Monday, the panel is set to discuss hepatitis B shots on Thursday and could potentially vote on policies concerning the shots.
Earlier in September, the panel had abandoned a vote that would have delayed the first hepatitis B vaccine dose for newborns. Health Secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been moving rapidly to rewrite U.S. vaccination policy, including dropping recommendations for COVID-19 shots for pregnant women and children, directing states on limits to their vaccine mandates and cutting funding for mRNA-based vaccine research.
Kennedy appointed Milhoan to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices earlier this year after he fired all its members and replaced them with his own nominees. Milhoan had reportedly backed the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin — both unproven treatments for COVID-19 — to treat the illness during the pandemic.
Milhoan succeeds Martin Kulldorff, who had taken the reins in June.
Anti-Vaxxers Taking Control
Anti-vaxxers, persons who oppose vaccines or government policies that require vaccinations, are quickly taking total control of this country’s healthcare system. Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham has been a member of that movement for some time.
Abraham is a physician and former U.S. congressman who became the state’s first surgeon general in June 2024, when he was appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry. We can thank U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, and an avid supporter of vaccinations, for the spreading anti-vaxxer movement.
In an effort to get back in the good graces of President Donald Trump, whom Cassidy voted to impeach, Cassidy approved the appointment of controversial health advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Advocate in its story about Abraham being named the No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said he has come under scrutiny for ending mass vaccination campaigns in Louisiana and casting doubts about COVID-19 vaccines. Abraham previously served as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health under Landry.
F.D.A. Withdraws Rule to Require Testing Cosmetics Made With Talc for Asbestos
The agency said it planned to craft a more comprehensive rule, but the move alarmed public health advocates, who have long worked to eliminate asbestos in consumer products. The Food and Drug Administration has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have required makeup manufacturers to test talcum powder and cosmetics made with talc for traces of asbestos, a highly carcinogenic contaminant.
The unexpected move was a blow to public health advocates who have worked for decades to curb or eliminate asbestos, which can be found in talc and causes deadly cancers like mesothelioma and lung and ovarian cancer, and for which there is no safe level of exposure. Even as the proposed rule was withdrawn, however, the F.D.A. said that it may consider regulating an even broader range of talc-containing products.
Johnson & Johnson took its talcum-based baby powder off the market in North America in 2020 amid litigation and reports indicating that the company knew about the risk of asbestos in talc. But many makeup products — from eye shadow and foundation to lipstick and mascara — continue to be made with talc, which is added because it absorbs moisture and creates a silky feel (it is listed on the label as talcum powder, talc or magnesium silicate).
FDA Tells Consumers to Toss 19 Cookware Items That May Contain Lead
A growing list of pots and pans is now considered unsafe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is urging folks to check their kitchens and get rid of them right away. In a new alert, the agency said 19 cookware products, all made outside the United States, may release dangerous levels of lead into food.
Most of the items came from India and are made of aluminum, aluminum alloys or brass. The FDA first raised concerns about these products in August. Now, after additional testing, the agency has added nine more cookware items to the list and is warning consumers not to use, donate or repair them.
“Do not donate or refurbish this cookware,” the agency stated. Lead is a toxic metal, and health experts say no amount of exposure is safe, especially for children. Even small amounts can build up in the body and trigger serious health issues.
