Kennedy's key vaccine panel down to 7 members ahead of first meeting, NYT reports
June 24 (Reuters) - A key panel of vaccine advisers named by U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. earlier this month is now down to seven members from the earlier announced strength of eight after one of the members opted out ahead of the committee's first meeting, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
"Dr. Michael Ross decided to withdraw from A.C.I.P. during the financial holdings review required of members before they can start work on the committee," Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, told the newspaper.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
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BBC News
42 minutes ago
- BBC News
Archie Goodburn: The Commonwealth Games swimmer who might not see 40
A year ago, a poolside phone call changed Archie Goodburn's Scottish 50m breaststroke record holder was dreaming of the Paris Olympics but his training had been hindered by some unusual factors. Seizures. Numbness on his left side. A feeling of had undergone tests and his scan results were due. When he emerged from his latest session in Edinburgh's Commonwealth pool, his phone showed a missed call from an unknown number. He called back. The news that followed was devastating."It was a pretty unlikely time to get a phone call," Goodburn says, speaking this month at the family home in the capital."I had actually spoke to my mum first to ask if she had heard anything. She said the doctors had been in touch but she couldn't get anything out of them."It's a moment I'll never forget, when I sat down at the edge of the pool - the pool where I've trained my whole life - to find out there's a brain tumour."Goodburn had brain cancer. He was 22 years old. It's the biggest cancer killer of people under the age of 40. Further investigation, including biopsy surgery, revealed three 'low grade' tumours. Inoperable and unable to be removed given how they'd spread through his brain."It was utter shock," he says. "Going from a healthy, young person to suddenly being told you have this ticking time-bomb in your brain that could, from one day to the next, become significantly worse and that there's nothing we can do to stop it." 'I'm lucky... I've got time to shout about this disease' It's particularly poignant when you consider this is an athlete in peak physical condition suddenly having to come to terms with their own mortality. "There are some potential advancements on the horizon and it's just whether or not these will come soon enough to help people like me who are facing the hard reality that they may not see their 40s."Imran Liaquat, Goodburn's neurosurgeon, says the prognosis can vary from three years to 20. Some live longer. Many don't. Accurate predictions are impossible and there is no cancer is - according to the Astro Brain Fund charity - the most fatal of all in terms of years lost, but investigations into it represent just 1% of the national spend on cancer research since record began. That, to Goodburn, is unacceptable. Undaunted by the battles to come, the young Scot is driven is continuing to train for this summer's World University Games and is looking forward to the Commonwealths in Glasgow next summer, but is also determined to help raise awareness of brain cancer and its impact on young painfully aware that many others have significantly less time than him."I'm in the fortunate position where I haven't been diagnosed with a glioblastoma," he explains. "I don't have 12 to 16 months. I may have considerably longer. "Often people don't get anywhere near as long when they're diagnosed with brain cancer. They're not going to want to spend their time raising awareness. They're going to want to live each day and making the most of every hour they have. "I realise I'm in a position with my sport and with my diagnosis that I have time to shout about this horrible disease that takes so many lives." As Goodburn offers an insight into what he, and many others, must face on a daily basis, a tear rolls down each cheek."I see the future in different ways on different days," he explains. "There are days when I wake up feeling positive and hoping things are going to be out there that can help. Other days, my eyes open and I remember I have brain cancer. There is an end-point to my life and it's much earlier than it should be."While he campaigns for more funding and better awareness, this extraordinary young man is drawing on the support of family and friends as he pursues his career as elite swimmer. He has a national title to defend this weekend and, despite everything, he'll be the strong favourite to retain the Scottish 50m breaststroke crown - live on the BBC Sport website, app & iPlayer - given he claimed silver at the British Championships in April. It's difficult for Goodburn to plan too far in advance, though, especially as he may now have to consider more aggressive forms of treatment such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, options he's managed to postpone thus far. "I want to keep going as long as I can and be in Glasgow for the next Commonwealth Games," he says. "I can live a pretty normal life at the moment but that's not to say that's something that's going to last and it won't be something that lasts."Watching Goodburn train at The Pleasance, alongside sister and fellow Commonwealth hopeful Katie, is long-time coach Mat can't quite fathom how his protege is not only still training at a high level, but getting results too. Within a month of his first surgery, he won that Scottish title. And at the end of last year, he equalled his PB at the world short Goodburn isn't resting there. While he tackles head on all the difficult challenges life has landed him with, he's also allowing himself to dream."I'm dreaming of bettering myself," he says. "A diagnosis like this takes away the belief in yourself that you can be better than you were previously. Cancer is something that we look at as a downhill, slippery slope and in some ways it is. "But I dream of being better than the last time I tried to do something. That lights a wee fire in me when a lot of other things put the fire out. "Doing a personal best post-diagnosis is a huge dream of mine. Going on to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games would be massive. Fingers crossed I can look towards the next Olympics. "That depends on a lot of factors outside my control. I'm just going to keep going at this as long as I can and keep being Archie."If you have been affected by any of these issues, find support via the BBC Action Line
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
CARVILL'S NOTES: Should boxing purists give Jake Paul a chance?
It is easy to dislike Jake Paul. As a congenitally lazy person, it is something that I have been doing for some time. Paul makes no attempt to come across as likeable. A lot of it must be theatre, the act of drawing eyeballs and attention, but his public image is that of the 'Problem Child', Steve Stifler in boxing gloves. Catch all the latest boxing action on DAZN There are a lot of marks against Paul, who fights this weekend on DAZN. Perhaps the most damaging when it comes to his dealings in the boxing world is that he said, four years ago, that he had early signs of CTE. 'I've gone and gotten brain scans,' he said at a press conference to promote his fight against Ben Askren in 2021, 'and have early signs of CTE.' No one knows exactly why Paul made those remarks. It may be that he thought he had shown symptoms resulting from concussions. Maybe a doctor had even told him that. He may have thought it was a good way to market the fight and to bolster his credibility. But there is no way to test for CTE pre-mortem and it is not something that should be taken lightly. A few years ago, I spent a few times with Alan Blyweiss, a former standout amateur who, after a disastrous start to his professional career (stopped in both fights), became one of Lennox Lewis's regular sparring partners for over a decade. In his mid-fifties, Alan suffers every day from the impact of his career. He struggles with balance, memory, cognition. His heart sometimes stops beating, and the pacemaker in his chest has to shock him back into life. He drinks copious amounts of water because his brain finds it difficult to regulate his body's temperature. He told me, honestly, when I was sat with him late one night. 'This CTE is going to kill me. I'm doing what I can to hold it back, but it is going to take my life.' So I feel like I have some kind of stake in this. I wanna retract my comments made about CTE as it relates to me and my medical history. It's a very serious condition that I should not have misspoken about. — Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 16, 2021 There was a later suggestion of self-awareness as Paul walked back his 'diagnosis'. Posting to X/Twitter, he said: 'I wanna retract my comments made about CTE as it relates to me and my medical history. It's a very serious condition that I should not have misspoken about.' So let us give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. I am also tempted to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his commitment. Training in Puerto Rico, Paul seems to genuinely be making efforts – as my colleague Harry Bullmore wrote earlier this week. Perhaps Paul is dedicated. Perhaps it is just a work. But here is an idea. Paul, rightly or wrongly, is one of the biggest names in the sport right now. That is why so many names are looking to him for a big payday. No one ever questioned the numbers when Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fought ten years ago. But I saw some of the filings with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), which detailed how much all of the fighters on that card were paid. Let us just say that there was a steep drop-off after the headliners. So it would be a measure of character, for someone who earns so well outside of the ring, to spread some of that love within the four ropes that make up the workplace of his fellow boxers. We know the measure of Paul's character within the ring. Despite his 'Problem Child' persona, he has always fought graciously and cleanly. It would also prove to be a measure of the man for him to let some of that money spread around him. And on that note: When I was younger and making those decisions a young man makes that sets the course of his life, one of my big influences was the 1996 documentary When We Were Kings by Leon Gast. The film, which tells the story of the 1974 bout in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, won the Oscar for best documentary feature that year. And around 2001 and 2002, I watched it obsessively and, through it, saw the lives of Norman Mailer (overrated) and George Plimpton (underrated) as they jetted around the world, covering big-time boxing, writing books, and generally being scoundrels. That, I thought, is the life for me. So it was a delight when friend Carolyn introduced me to a friend of hers a few years ago, saying, 'Hey, you should meet my friend Pete. He writes on boxing.' We were sitting on the terrace of the Brufani Hotel in Perugia, Italy, while at the International Journalism Festival. This friend, Caroyln told me, had an uncle that had made a film about boxing. It turned out to be the niece of Leon Gast, who was beyond pleased that she had met someone who had been so influenced by her uncle's work. It seemed to make her night. It definitely made mine. Fighters fall out with one another all the time, and do so because it seems to make for decent ticket sales. Afterwards, as I wrote last week, they all admit that it was a pretence, they actually respect and like each other, and become friends. It is a cycle as dispiriting as it is boring. But there is one fallout that both seems genuine and shows no sign of resolution. I am talking, of course, about that between BoxRec and the WBA. The pair, it seems, fell out some time ago when it seems the WBA scraped a ton of data from BoxRec, then passed it on to Fight Fax. Being boxing, this is all kinds of murkiness about it, like stamping into the silt that sits at the bottom of a lake. As a consequence, BoxRec removed all mentions of the WBA from its rankings, meaning that many fighters are no longer considered by the recordkeeper to have been world champions. While it would be nice to have just one recognised champion per division – and fewer divisions at that – this seems to be the wrong way to go about it. Right now, the exclusion of the WBA from BoxRec weakens both entities. A few weeks ago, former cruiserweight champion Marco Huck was ringside in Hamburg to watched Labinot Xhoxhaj defend his EBU heavyweight title against Mourad Aliev (I was commentating that night, in the interests of disclosure). Huck told German newspaper BILD that he fancied a shot at Xhoxhaj, probably at some point in September in Berlin. This would mark yet another 'comeback' fight for Huck. He was scheduled to fight Joe Joyce in Hannover, Germany, in 2020 but pulled out at the last minute. His next fight was ten rounds against a Butterbean-like Dennis Lewandowski in front of a few hundred people in the small town of Braunlage. He was then set to fight Evgenios Lazaridis in the same town, but pulled out before the fight was later restaged in Berlin. I had organised travel to both Hannover and Braunlage for the cancelled fights, so I am a little sceptical that anything Huck arranges will actually happen. That said, if the fight is arranged for Berlin but then called off, at least this time I will not be stuck with train tickets or a hotel reservation that cannot be cancelled. Senior writer/editor Pete Carvill is the author of Death of a Boxer (a Daily Mail and Irish Times 'Sports Book of the Year') and A Duel of Bulls: Hemingway and Welles in Love and War. He is also a frequent blow-by-blow commentator on DAZN for boxing from Germany. Watch the very best boxing with a DAZN subscription DAZN is the home of combat sports, broadcasting over 185 fights a year from the world's best promoters, including Matchroom, Queensberry, Golden Boy, Misfits, PFL, BKFC, GLORY and more. An Annual Saver subscription is a one-off cost of £119.99 / $224.99 (for 12 months access), that's just 64p / $1.21 per fight. There is also a Monthly Flex Pass option (cancel any time) at £24.99 / $29.99 per month. A subscription includes weekly magazine shows, comprehensive fight library, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and podcasts and vodcasts.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Bharat, GSK to halve price of malaria vaccine by 2028
LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - Drugmakers Bharat Biotech and GSK (GSK.L), opens new tab will cut the price of their malaria vaccine to $5 per dose by 2028, more than halving its current cost, they said on Wednesday. The vaccine, Mosquirix or RTS,S, was developed by GSK and the non-profit PATH, and was the first malaria vaccine to get approval from the World Health Organization in 2022. GSK is working on a technology transfer to Bharat, and will continue to supply the adjuvant part of the vaccine to Bharat when the Indian drugmaker fully takes over production of the shot by 2028. A phased reduction in price for the vaccine will begin immediately, GSK said in a statement with Bharat, reaching the target price of $5 by 2028. The price cut was "driven by process improvements, expanded production capacity, cost-effective manufacturing, and minimal profit margins," the statement read. Malaria kills more than 500,000 people annually, mainly children aged five and under in sub-Saharan Africa, according to WHO estimates. Cases and deaths fell significantly between 2000 and 2015, but progress has since stalled and even reversed, with a particular jump in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many experts have expressed hope that vaccines can help turn the tide in the fight against the mosquito-borne disease. But price has been an issue, particularly when compared to other tools to prevent malaria like bed nets. GSK has previously said, opens new tab it was committed to supplying up to 18 million vaccine doses between 2023 and the end of this year. The company plans to supply 15 million doses annually from 2026-2028, according to a spokesperson. Wednesday's announcement comes as Gavi - a global vaccine group that helps buy childhood vaccines in the world's poorest countries - holds an event in Brussels to raise funding for its work over the next five years, as governments pull back from international aid. GSK and Bharat said the price reduction showed their commitment to Gavi, which has been funding some of the roll-out of the malaria vaccine. Twelve African countries are set to introduce the vaccine in their routine immunisation programmes by the end of this year with Gavi's support. The other approved malaria vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, is priced at under $4 a dose.
