Kennedy names new members of CDC vaccine advisory panel days after removing previous advisers
He announced eight new members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, on Wednesday.
Kennedy had said Monday that the previous 17-member panel that makes recommendations on who should get vaccines and when was rife with conflicts of interest and that he would appoint new 'highly credentialed' experts in time for the panel's June 25 meeting, at which the members are expected to discuss guidance for Covid-19 and HPV shots, among others.
In a statement Wednesday, Kennedy said the reassembled panel will demand 'definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations, but will also review data for the current vaccine schedule as well.'
The eight new ACIP members include Dr. Robert Malone, a biochemist who made early innovations in the field of messenger RNA but in more recent years has been a vocal critic of mRNA technology in Covid-19 vaccines.
The CDC recently narrowed its recommendations for mRNA Covid-19 shots, but some advocates in the Make America Healthy Again space have pressed Kennedy to go further and bar the vaccines entirely.
Another new member is Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who co-authored an October 2020 strategy on herd immunity known as the Great Barrington Declaration with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, now director of the US National Institutes of Health.
Both Malone's and Kulldorff's names were circulated early in the second Trump administration as potential advisers on ACIP or other panels, according to a person familiar with the process who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak with CNN.
Kennedy also chose Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician he described as a 'strong advocate for evidence-based medicine' who has served on hospital committees and medical executive boards.
Dr. Retsef Levi, an MIT professor who has published studies on mRNA vaccines and cardiovascular events, is also joining the panel. Levi is a professor of operations management.
Several of the new members have served in federal health agencies previously, including Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a former acting chief of the NIH's section on nutritional neurosciences.
Dr. Cody Meissner, a Dartmouth professor of pediatrics who also signed the Great Barrington Declaration, has previously served on ACIP and on the US Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
Dr. Vicky Pebsworth, the Pacific region director of the National Association of Catholic Nurses, also served on the FDA committee and on a national panel reviewing the 2009 H1N1 swine flu vaccine.
Dr. Michael Ross, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University, has previously served on the CDC's Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Breast and Cervical Cancer. Kennedy also nodded in his statement to Ross' 'continued service on biotech and healthcare boards.'
The private equity company Havencrest, in which Ross is an operating partner, describes him on its site as a 'serial CEO' who has served on the boards of several biotechnology companies.
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Bloomberg
2 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump, Putin Call Talks ‘Productive,' a ‘Starting Point'
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin speak at a joint event Friday following their summit in Anchorage, Alaska. (With English translation of Putin's remarks in Russian.) (Source: Bloomberg)
CBS News
2 minutes ago
- CBS News
Here's the transcript of what Putin and Trump said in Alaska
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin left Alaska Friday without a ceasefire agreement, although both men described the meeting constructive. In what was billed by the White House as a press conference following their meeting, Mr. Trump and Putin took no questions, ignoring shouted ones from reporters. Putin spoke little of Ukraine, focusing on the bond and heritage between the U.S. and Russia, while Mr. Trump said many points were agreed to, and a few are left, regarding Ukraine. The U.S. president plans to call European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he said. Here is a transcript of what Mr. Trump and Putin said: PUTIN: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, our negotiations have been held in a constructive atmosphere of mutual respect. PUTIN: We have very thorough negotiations that were quite useful. I would like to thank once again my American counterpart, for the proposal to travel out here to Alaska. It only makes sense that we've met here, because our countries, though separated by the oceans, are close neighbors. So when we've met, when I came out of the plane and I said, 'Good afternoon, dear neighbor. Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive.' I think that is very neighborly. I think that's some kind words that we can say to each other. We're separated by the strait of Bering, though, there are two islands only between the Russian Island and the U.S. Island. They're only four kilometers apart. We are close neighbors, and it's a fact. PUTIN: It's also important that Alaska has to do with our common heritage, common history between Russia and the U.S., and many positive events have to do with that territory. Still, there is tremendous cultural heritage, back from the Russian America, for example, Orthodox churches, and a lot of- more than 700 geographical names of Russian origin. During the Second World War, it was here in Alaska that was the origin of the legendary air bridge for the supply of military aircraft and other equipment under the Lend-Lease Program. PUTIN: It was a dangerous and treacherous route over the vast emptiness of ice. However, the pilots of both countries did everything to bring closer the victory. They risked their lives and they gave it all for the common victory. I was just in the city of Magadan in Russia. And there is a memorial there dedicated to the Russian, the U.S. pilots. And there are two flags, the U.S. flag and the Russian flag. And I know that here as well, there is such a memorial. There is a military burial place several kilometers away from here. The Soviet pilots are buried there who died during that dangerous mission. We're thankful to the citizens and the government of the U.S. for carefully taking care of their memory. I think that's very worthy and noble. We'll always remember other historical examples when our countries defeated common enemies together in the spirit of battle camaraderie and allyship that supported each other and facilitated each other. I am sure that this heritage will help us rebuild and foster mutually beneficial and equal ties at this new stage, even during the hardest conditions. PUTIN: It is known that there have been no summits between Russia and the U.S. for four years, and that's a long time. This time was very hard for bilateral relations, and let's be frank, they've fallen to the lowest point since the Cold War. I think that's not benefiting our countries and the world as a whole. It is apparent that sooner or later, we have to amend the situation to move on from the confrontation to dialog, and in this case, a personal meeting between the heads of state has been long overdue, naturally, under the condition of serious and painstaking work, and this work has been done. PUTIN: In general, me and President Trump have very good direct contact. We've spoken multiple times. We spoke frankly on the phone. And the special envoy of the president, Mr. Witkoff, traveled out to Russia several times. Our advisers and heads of foreign ministries kept in touch all the time, and we know fully well that one of the central issues was the situation around Ukraine. PUTIN: We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, and his strive to get to the crux of the matter, to understand this history, is precious. As I've said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we've always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I've said it multiple times, a brotherly nation. How strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots, and everything that's happening is a tragedy for us, and terrible wound. Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it. PUTIN: At the same time, we're convinced that in order to, to make the settlement lasting and long term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict, and we've said it multiple times, to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole, and agree with President Trump, as he has said today, that naturally, the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well. Naturally, we are prepared to work on that. PUTIN: I would like to hope that the agreement that we've reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine. We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively and that they won't throw a wrench in the works. They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress. PUTIN: Incidentally, when the new administration came to power, bilateral trade started to grow. It's still very symbolic. Still, we have a growth of 20%. As I've said, we have a lot of dimensions for joint work. It is clear that the U.S. and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential. Russia and the U.S. can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high tech and in space exploration. We see that arctic cooperation is also very possible, in our international context. For example, between the far east of Russia and the West Coast of the U.S. PUTIN: Overall, it's very important for our countries to turn the page to go back to cooperation. It is symbolic that, not far away from here, the border between Russia and the US, there was a so-called International Date Line. I think you can step over, literally, from yesterday into tomorrow, and I hope that's- will succeed in that, in the political sphere. I would like to thank President Trump for our joint work, for the well wishing and trustworthy tone of our conversation. PUTIN: It's important that both sides are result-oriented and we see that the president of the U.S. has a very clear idea of what he would like to achieve. He sincerely cares about the prosperity of his nation. Still, he understands that Russia has its own national interests. PUTIN: I expect that today's agreements will be the starting point, not only for the solution of the Ukrainian issue, but also will help us bring back business-like and pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S. PUTIN: And in the end, I would like to add one more thing. I'd like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague, it should not- the situation should not be brought to the point of no return, when it would come to hostilities and accept it quite directly back then, that is a big mistake. Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then, there would be no war, and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that. I think that overall, me and President Trump have built a very good business-like and trustworthy contact, and have every reason to believe that moving down this path, we can come and assume it better to the end of the conflict in Ukraine. Thank you. Thank you. TRUMP: Thank you very much, Mr. President, that was very profound, and I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there, but we've made some headway. So there's no deal until there's a deal. TRUMP: I will call up NATO in a little while, I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I'll of course, call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them. They're going to have to agree with what Marco and Steve and some of the great people from the Trump administration who've come here, Scott and John Ratcliffe. Thank you very much. But we have some of our really great leaders. They've been doing a phenomenal job. TRUMP: We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here. And I think, you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We've become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time, and we look forward to that. We look forward to dealing- we're going to try and get this over with. TRUMP: We really made some great progress today. I've always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he's probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He's seen- he's seen it all. But we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country, in terms of the business, and all of the things that would like to have dealt with, but we'll have a good chance when this is over. TRUMP: So just to put it very quickly, I'm going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there. I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team, whose faces who I know, in many cases, otherwise, other than that, whose- whose faces I get to see all the time in the newspapers, you're very- you're almost as famous as the boss, but especially this one right over here. TRUMP: But we had some good meetings over the years, right? Good, productive meetings over the years, and we hope to have that in the future. Let's do the most productive one right now. We're going to stop, really, 5, 6, 7 thousand, 1000s of people a week from being killed, and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do. So again, Mr. President, I'd like to thank you very much, and we'll speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir. PUTIN: Next time in Moscow. TRUMP: Ooh, that's an interesting one. I don't know. I'll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening. Thank you very much, Vladimir, and thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. PUTIN: Thank you so much.
CNN
2 minutes ago
- CNN
NIH director lays out agency's research and funding priorities in new strategy statement
The director of the US National Institutes of Health outlined on Friday a 'unified strategy' to align the agency's priorities and funding, a move he said was meant to offer clarification following sweeping changes at the agency, including massive budget cuts, grant cancellations and plans for reorganization. In Friday's statement, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya emphasized the need for transparency with the taxpaying American public and an intent to 'honor their trust.' He identified key priorities for the NIH, including chronic disease and nutrition – as per an executive order 'on Gold-Standard Science and the Make America Healthy Again Commission Report' – as well as artificial intelligence, alternative testing models and real-world data platforms. He also noted that the agency is dedicated to supporting research that pursues 'innovative, and sometimes controversial, questions.' NIH funding decisions will reflect these priorities and other 'core principles,' the statement said. 'As stewards of taxpayer funds, NIH must deliver results that matter to the public,' Bhattacharya wrote. 'Through this strategy, we will better leverage the synergistic missions of each NIH Institute and Center to fund the most meritorious science, address urgent health needs, and sustain a robust biomedical research workforce.' More details were shared on certain agency priorities with an intent to 'clarify specific issues that currently require additional guidance,' the statement said, including autism, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, research on racial disparities, transgender care and more. In April, a policy note from the NIH said the agency can pull medical research funding from universities with diversity and inclusion programs. Friday's statement noted that the NIH was 'shifting to solution-oriented approaches in health disparities research.' 'In contrast to research that considers race or ethnicity when scientifically justified […] research based on ideologies that promote differential treatment of people based on race or ethnicity, rely on poorly defined concepts or on unfalsifiable theories, does not follow the principles of gold-standard science,' the statement read. NIH also intends to prioritize research focused on what it called 'more promising avenues of research' for the the health of transgender youth than studies involving treatments such as puberty suppression, hormone therapy or surgery. 'Research that aims to identify and treat the harms these therapies and procedures have potentially caused to minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or gender incongruence, and how to best address the needs of these individuals so that they may live long, healthy lives is more promising,' the statement said. Multiple priorities emphasize a preference for domestic research, including a new system to manage projects with funding for foreign research institutions and a blueprint for domestic training programs. NIH will also prioritize research that can be replicated or reproduced. 'We are exploring various mechanisms to support scientists focused on replication work, to publish negative findings, and to elevate replication research,' the statement read.
