Vermont senator says Kennedy is endangering the health of the American people as head of the US health department
Bernie Sanders has joined in on growing public calls for Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to resign, after recent chaos across US health agencies.
In an op-ed published in the New York Times on Saturday, the Vermont senator accused Kennedy of “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future”, adding: “He must resign.”
Continue reading...Senators’ fury at developments at US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as Jim O’Neill picked to replace Susan Monarez
Nearly 1,000 “worker over billionaire” protests are being planned in all 50 states starting this weekend as part of a Labor Day week of action organized by labor unions and advocacy groups in opposition to the Trump administration’s policies.
The actions include marches and rallies in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, a Labor Day parade in New York City, rallies in Palmer, Alaska, Freeport, Maine, and a planned protest at the state capitol in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Continue reading...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...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...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...American Medical Association writes to health secretary after reports he aims to overhaul taskforce for being ‘woke’
A top US medical body has expressed “deep concern” to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures including cancer screenings should be covered by insurance companies.
The letter from the the American Medical Association comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Kennedy plans to overhaul the 40-year old US Preventive Services Task Force because he regards them as too “woke”, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Continue reading...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...Health secretary backs company criticized for selling junk-laden meals to Medicaid patients on ‘Make America healthy again’ tour
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr promoted a company whose meals contain ultra-processed ingredients – which he has repeatedly railed against – on his “Make America healthy again” tour.
Kennedy appeared at an enormous food plant in Oklahoma for a company called Mom’s Meals, which makes 1.5m “medically tailored” meals each week and ships them all over the country.
Continue reading...Robert Berman, cited in report on preservative thimerosal, says he ‘doesn’t endorse this misrepresentation of research’
A review on the use of the preservative thimerosal in vaccines slated to be presented on Thursday to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) outside vaccine committee cites a study that does not exist, the scientist listed as the study’s author said.
The report, called Thimerosal as a Vaccine Preservative published on the CDC website on Tuesday, is to be presented by Lyn Redwood, a former leader of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense.
Continue reading...Health secretary and chief of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid hail voluntary agreement as a ‘good start’
The US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Dr Mehmet Oz announced a voluntary agreement with insurance companies to change prior authorization practices – where private health insurers require patients to ask for permission before they can receive medical treatment.
The majority of Americans receive health insurance through a private company, whether through an employer, or a privatization of public health insurance programs, such as Medicare Advantage.
Continue reading...The Maha campaign seeks to warn Americans of the dangers of ultra-processed foods
Federal health officials are seeking to launch a “bold, edgy” public service campaign to warn Americans of the dangers of ultra-processed foods in social media, transit ads, billboards and even text messages.
And they potentially stand to profit off the results.
Continue reading...ACIP panel to discuss influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal, which Kennedy called ‘dangerous’ in 2014 book
A key vaccine advisory panel reconstituted by health secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr is slated to discuss thimerosal-containing influenza vaccines in its first meeting – an ingredient which has been a fixation of anti-vaccine activists for decades.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will hold two separate votes later this month: one on “influenza vaccines” and one on influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal.
Continue reading...Fiona Havers says she does not have confidence data will be use to make ‘evidence-based vaccine policy decisions’
The scientist responsible for overseeing the CDC team that collects data on Covid and RSV hospitalizations resigned on Monday.
Dr Fiona Havers told colleagues in an email that she no longer had confidence the data would be used “objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions”, according to Reuters.
Continue reading...Among the names announced by the US health secretary are several who have expressed anti-vaccine views
Robert Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, named new members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on Wednesday after abruptly firing all 17 sitting members of the independent panel of experts, according to a post on X.
The eight new members of the advisory committee for immunization practices (ACIP) are: Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross.
Continue reading...Scores of National Institutes of Health researchers and staffers sign letter criticizing agency policies: ‘We dissent’
In his confirmation hearings to lead the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya pledged his openness to views that might conflict with his own. “Dissent,” he said, “is the very essence of science.”
That commitment is being put to the test.
Continue reading...Natalie Phelps, who has stage 4 colorectal cancer, has raised the alarm over how patients in the agency’s clinical trials are facing setbacks in treatment
A 43-year-old woman and mother of two with advanced cancer says she is experiencing life-or-death delays in treatment because of the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Natalie Phelps, who has stage 4 colorectal cancer, has spoken publicly, raising the alarm about a setback in care for herself and others who are part of clinical trials run by the agency. Her story has made it into congressional hearings and spurred a spat between a Democratic senator and the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. Behind the scenes, she and others are advocating to get her treatment started sooner.
Continue reading...Trump officials offer to move 300 birds to Mehmet Oz’s Florida ranch after Canada’s kill order over avian flu fears
Senior officials in the Trump administration have intervened in attempt to save more than 300 ostriches on a farm in British Columbia which the Canadian government had ordered to be killed over fears the flock is infected with avian flu.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, and Mehmet Oz, a physician and former TV host appointed by Trump as the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, have offered to move the birds to Oz’s ranch in Florida – despite the kill order imposed by Canadian health authorities.
Continue reading...Ben Cohen and others interrupted RFK Jr at hearing to protest Israel’s Gaza blockade and Medicaid cuts
Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, has been charged with “crowding and obstructing” others after he was arrested while protesting against the Gaza blockade during a US Senate hearing.
Cohen – the Ben in Ben & Jerry’s – made his stand on Wednesday while Robert F Kennedy Jr was addressing a hearing of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. A group of activists heckled the health secretary over his anti-vaccine posture, yelling: “When Bobby lies, children die,” and “Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America”.
Continue reading...Health secretary cites ‘new data’ that emerged from flawed study conservatives are using to pressure US government
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said on Wednesday that he had directed the FDA to review the regulations around the abortion pill mifepristone.
The review, he said, was necessary due to “new data” – data that emerged from a flawed analysis that top US anti-abortion groups are now using to pressure the Trump administration to reimpose restrictions on the abortion pill, if not pull it from the market entirely.
Continue reading...Health secretary demurs on questions about vaccine stance and defends Republican plans to cut healthcare
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, refused to say whether he would vaccinate his children if he had to choose today, and defended Republicans’ proposal to cut healthcare to fund tax cut extensions.
Kennedy’s back-to-back testimonies before House and Senate committees were his first appearances before lawmakers since his confirmation in February. The secretary was called to discuss Donald Trump’s proposed budget, which would impose disproportionately large cuts to scientific enterprises at the health department.
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