Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Trump administration’s embattled FDA vaccine chief ousted for the second time

Posted on by

Vinay Prasad to leave in April after decisions involving vaccine reviews and specialty drugs for rare diseases

The top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr Vinay Prasad, is once again leaving the agency – the second time in less than a year that he’s departed after decisions involving the review of vaccinations and specialty drugs for rare diseases.

FDA commissioner Marty Makary announced the news to FDA staff in an email late Friday, saying Prasad would depart at the end of April. Makary said Prasad would return to his academic job at the University of California, San Francisco.

Continue reading...

‘Viruses don’t know borders’: US anti-vaccine rhetoric could impact global measles crisis

Posted on by

Experts say global measles vaccination rates are falling as Trump officials signal a deprioritization of the virus

The US government has amplified anti-vaccine rhetoric and signaled that it does not consider measles to be a priority, which could have global ramifications as countries around the world have lost or are on the brink of losing measles elimination status.

The World Health Organization announced in late January that six European countries: the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan had all officially lost their measles elimination status, which means the virus has been circulating continuously in those countries for more than 12 months. In order to contain measles, at least 95% of children should be fully vaccinated against it, according to health recommendations, but vaccination rates have been falling across Europe.

Continue reading...

States sue Trump administration over changes to vaccine recommendations for children

Posted on by

States call move an illegal threat to public health and argue CDC puts children’s lives at risk with new guidance

More than a dozen states, including California, sued the Trump administration over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, calling the move an illegal threat to public health.

The states argue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put children’s lives at risk when it announced last month that it would stop recommending all children get immunized against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Under the new guidance, which was met with criticism from medical experts, protections against those diseases are recommended only for certain groups deemed high risk or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”

Continue reading...

Experts say strict new FDA protocol for vaccine approval is ‘dangerous and irresponsible’

Posted on by

Lead FDA vaccine regulator announced new approval process after claiming Covid vaccine had killed 10 children

The leading vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a far stricter course for federal vaccine approvals, following claims from his team that Covid vaccines were linked to the deaths of at least 10 children.

Experts suggest the announcement will make the vaccine approval process significantly more difficult.

Continue reading...

Disease fears as Argentina child vaccination rates hit historic lows

Posted on by

Sharp drop since 2024 in country regarded as a Latin American leader in childhood and adolescent immunisation

Argentina’s childhood and adolescent vaccination rates have collapsed to a historic lows according to a new analysis, prompting warnings that once-eliminated diseases may resurge.

The study of health ministry data by the Argentinian Paediatric Society (SAP) found that fewer than half of children aged five and six received several of their essential doses in 2024. All vaccines analysed were below the 95% level needed to reach herd immunity.

Continue reading...

US anti-vax stance to blame for continent-wide surge in measles, say experts

Posted on by

The disease was eliminated across the Americas in 2024, but urgent vaccination drives are now under way as cases rise from Mexico to Bolivia after outbreaks farther north

Governments across Latin America are stepping up efforts to vaccinate their populations against measles, as outbreaks in North America drive a 34-fold increase in the number of cases reported in the region this year.

Measles cases have surged worldwide to a 25-year high, due to low vaccine coverage and the spread of misinformation about vaccine safety. However, there is added concern in parts of Latin America over unequal access to healthcare and the worrying situation in the US, which is facing its worst measles outbreak in decades following a reversal of vaccine policy led by Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Continue reading...

Ed Davey calls for UK to import US cancer researchers hit by Trump cuts

Posted on by

Lib Dem leader to use conference speech to urge extra funding for mRNA research and accuse Nigel Farage of cheering US funding reductions

The UK should import US scientists whose cancer research projects have been cut by Donald Trump, Ed Davey will argue at a Liberal Democrat conference that has focused heavily on how the party can respond to hard-right populism.

In his closing speech, Davey will also criticise Nigel Farage, saying the Reform UK conference applauded the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccines, which are being trialled as a way to offer personalised immunotherapy treatment for some cancers.

Continue reading...

US health officials plan to revisit vaccine policies using anti-vax tactics, experts warn

Posted on by

Data public health experts say is worrisome will reportedly be presented to ACIP later this week before vote on shots

US health officials are reportedly planning to release data on child deaths and serious side effects they would attribute to Covid-19 vaccines, raising alarm among public health experts who say the publicly available data does not support these claims and the report may lead to increased anti-vaccine sentiment.

Independent advisers for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) later this week plan to revisit recommendations for Covid shots as well as vaccines for measles and hepatitis B.

Continue reading...

Trump’s former surgeon general urges president to fire RFK Jr

Posted on by

Jerome Adams cites vaccine policy and chaos at CDC and joins other officials in saying Kennedy is risking US health

The surgeon general from the first Trump administration on Saturday said that the US president should “absolutely” fire health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over his “dangerous” policies on vaccines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Jerome Adams, who has become a pointed critic of the controversial public health decisions being swiftly rolled out in the second Trump administration, made his most fierce attack yet on what has been unfolding.

Continue reading...

Doctor uses Reform conference speech to link king’s cancer to Covid vaccine

Posted on by

Aseem Malhotra claimed ‘eminent oncologist’ said jab was ‘significant factor in the cancer of members of royal family’

A controversial doctor given top billing at the Reform party conference has used his main-stage speech to air a claim the Covid vaccine caused cancer in the royal family.

The speech by Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist who was appointed as a senior adviser to the US health secretary and vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy, drew sharp intakes of breath in the Birmingham auditorium where he was handed a prime speaking slot.

Continue reading...

Florida to end vaccine mandates for children as surgeon general likens them to ‘slavery’

Posted on by

Joseph Ladapo, a long-time vaccine skeptic, says that every state vaccine requirement would be repealed

Children in Florida will no longer be required to receive vaccines against preventable diseases including measles, mumps, chicken pox, polio and hepatitis said Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, on Wednesday in a speech during which he likened vaccine mandates to “slavery”.

Ladapo, hand-picked for the role by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, is a long-time skeptic of the benefit of vaccines, and has previously been accused of peddling “scientific nonsense” by public health advocates.

Continue reading...

Vaccine warning for England as one in five children start school unprotected

Posted on by

Experts say country needs ‘wake up call’ with levels far below those needed for herd immunity

England needs to “wake up” to its faltering infant vaccination programme, experts have warned, as it was revealed that one in five children start primary school unprotected from serious infectious diseases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the target for vaccine uptake among children in order to achieve herd immunity is 95%. But figures for 2024-25 released by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Thursday show that no childhood vaccine has met this requirement.

Continue reading...

US health agency workers accuse RFK Jr of fueling violence against them

Posted on by

Over 750 workers in a letter said HHS secretary’s rhetoric played a role in recent attack at CDC’s Atlanta headquarters

More than 750 current and former federal health employees on Wednesday accused health and human services (HHS) secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr of fueling harassment and violence directed at government healthcare staff.

In a letter sent to Kennedy and members of Congress, the group accuses RFK Jr of contributing to “the harassment and violence experienced by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff”, citing decisions such as removing members from a CDC vaccine advisory panel, questioning the safety of the measles vaccine, and firing key CDC staff as actions that sow distrust in federal medical professionals.

Continue reading...

Gunman in CDC attack fired over 180 shots at building and broke 150 windows

Posted on by

Georgia man who blamed Covid vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal shot and killed a police officer

The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing “blast-resistant” windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency.

It may take weeks or even months to replace windows and clean up the damage, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel said.

Continue reading...

CDC union says vaccine misinformation put staff at risk after Atlanta shooting

Posted on by

Deadly violence not random as staff have endured ‘months of mistreatment, neglect and vilification’, says union

A union representing US Centers for Disease Control employees has demanded that the federal government condemn vaccine misinformation after a man who evidently blamed the Covid-19 vaccination for making him depressed and suicidal aimed gunfire Friday at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.

The 30-year-old shooting suspect, who killed a police officer and died during the attack, had also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters – but he was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Vinay Prasad returns to FDA days after leaving under pressure from Laura Loomer

Posted on by

Prasad left the agency after far-right influencer released edited audio misleadingly suggesting he was anti-Trump

Vinay Prasad is returning to his role overseeing vaccine, gene therapy and blood product regulation at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a little more than a week after he left the agency.

“At the FDA’s request, Dr Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research,” Department Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement to Reuters.

Continue reading...

Shares in European drug companies hit four-month low as Trump tariffs loom

Posted on by

President repeats threat to bring in levies ‘within next week or so’ in attempt to get companies to move production to US

Shares in European pharmaceutical companies have sunk to a four-month low, after Donald Trump repeated his threats to introduce tariffs on drug imports “within the next week or so”.

Europe’s Stoxx Health Care index slid by 2.8% on Wednesday, falling to its lowest level since mid-April, shortly after the US president’s initial “liberation day” tariff announcements.

Continue reading...

Health experts raise alarm over RFK Jr’s ‘war on science’ amid mass firings and budget cuts

Posted on by

Experts warn that the dangerous ideologically driven cuts at HHS will have long-term consequences for healthcare

The Trump administration’s “war on science” appears to have entered a new phase in the aftermath of a recent supreme court decision that empowered health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a prominent vaccine sceptic, and other agency leaders, to implement mass firings – effectively greenlighting the politicization of science.

The decision comes as Kennedy abruptly canceled a scheduled meeting of a key health care advisory panel, the US Preventive Services Task Force, earlier this month. That, combined with his recent removal of a panel of more than a dozen vaccine advisers, signals that his dismantling of the science-based policymaking at HHS is likely far from over.

Continue reading...

Sudan’s children face growing threat of deadly infectious diseases as vaccination rates halve

Posted on by

The country, beset by war, has the world’s lowest rates of vaccination, says the World Health Organization, as global immunisation drive also stalls

Children in Sudan, caught up in what aid organisations have called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and threatened by rising levels of violence, are increasingly vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases as vaccinations in the country plummet.

In 2022, more than 90% of young children in Sudan received their routine vaccinations. But that figure has nearly halved to 48%, the lowest in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

Continue reading...

DoJ drops charges against Utah doctor accused of destroying Covid vaccines

Posted on by

Michael Kirk Moore accused of distributing at least 1,937 false vaccination cards and administering saline to children

The US Department of Justice dropped charges on Saturday against Michael Kirk Moore, the Utah doctor accused of destroying more than $28,000 worth of government-provided Covid-19 vaccines and administering saline to children instead of the shot.

Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, announced the news in a statement on the social media platform X, saying the charges had been dismissed under her direction.

Continue reading...