Murdoch's Paper Unloads on RFK Jr. Over Axing Vaccine Board
A Rupert Murdoch-owned paper ripped into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday for gutting the nation's top vaccine advisory panel.
The Wall Street Journal published a scathing op-ed a day after Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, announced the firing spree at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the paper itself. The ACIP reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine efficacy.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services said he was 'retiring' all 17 members of the advisory committee on vaccines in a 'bold step' to help restore 'public trust.'
The move raised alarm bells at a time when health experts fear vaccine skepticism is fueling the nation's largest measles outbreak in around 25 years.
'Most of ACIP's members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines,' Kennedy wrote, hinting at a plot to push vaccines on Americans.
Murdoch's editorial board hit back: 'Mr. Kennedy's beef seems to be that the committee's members know something about vaccines and may have been involved in their research and development.'
'How does he define 'substantial'?' the board asked.
The board noted that trial doctors get small payments, typically less than their salaries, from vaccine makers to assist with clinical trials.
But 'these trials are double-blinded, meaning doctors don't know which volunteers receive the vaccine or placebo so there's no financial incentive to tilt the data in favor of manufacturers,' the board said.
Any conflicts of interest among the committee were also 'honestly handled,' the board said.
Kennedy said in a separate announcement that 'a clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.'
'ACIP new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas,' he added.
Since joining the Trump administration in January, Kennedy, who is leading the Trump administration's 'Make America Healthy Again' initiative has doubled down on conspiracy theories around shots, including that the measles jab contain 'aborted fetus debris.'
'The MMR vaccine contains millions of particles that are derived from fetal tissue, millions of fragments of human DNA from aborted fetuses,' Kennedy told NBC News' Tom Llamas last month.
Kennedy was referring to the combined Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine.
Vaccines do not contain aborted fetuses, fetal cells, fetal DNA, or fetal debris, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The rubella component of the vaccine is developed from a fetal cell line known as WI-38 that originally came from the lung tissue of an elective abortion performed more than five decades ago. No new fetal issue has been used since, and cells used today are thousands of times removed from the original source.
Health experts are alarmed by Kennedy's suggestions that the measles jab is unsafe, a claim which contradicts decades of research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organization declared measles eliminated from the United States in 2000 due to the success of vaccination efforts. International travel and growing vaccine hesitancy are thought to be behind its resurgence.
The American Medical Association has said Kennedy's decision to gut ACIP undermines 'trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives.'
Kennedy wrote in his op-ed for the Journal that ACIP's new members 'won't directly work for the vaccine industry.'
'They will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry—unafraid to ask hard questions.'
ACIP is set to hold its next meeting on June 25 at the CDC's headquarters.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
19 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Premature baby dies with measles
As measles cases across Elgin County and North America continue to rise, a southwestern Ontario infant infected by its unimmunized mother was identified June 5 as Canada's first death related to a measles outbreak that took hold of the nation on Oct. 30, 2024. 'It is with deep sadness that I confirm that an infant, born prematurely and infected with measles, has tragically passed away in southwestern Ontario,' Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health said in a statement. Dr. Moore said the infant contracted the virus before birth from the unimmunized mother. While measles may have been a contributing factor in both the premature birth and death, Dr. Moore said that the infant also faced other serious medical complications unrelated to the virus. 'Anyone who is unvaccinated is at risk and I urge everyone, but especially those who may become pregnant, to ensure they have received two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, which will protect both a parent and baby,' added Dr. Moore. 'This vaccine has been safely used for over 50 years and is highly effective.' Dr. Ninh Tran, Southwestern Public Health's Medical Officer of Health added: 'This event underscores the seriousness of measles in pregnant individuals, as it can cause low birth weight for the baby, preterm birth, and miscarriage. 'Measles can also cause pneumonia, brain swelling, and death, with infants and immunocompromised individuals especially vulnerable to these risks,' Dr. Tran said in a separate statement. 'The safest and most effective way to protect yourself from measles is through immunization.' The United States has reported 1,088 cases this year, as of June 1, according to a Reuters report. Two children have died in the Texas outbreak. The Government of Canada's latest report shows there are 2,755 measles cases in nine jurisdictions, as of May 24, 2025. That's an increase of 244 measles cases since the previous report. As of June 3, 2025, Ontario has reported a total of 2,009 measles cases in 19 public health units, an increase of 121 cases since the previous week. The weekly provincial report indicates 74.9 percent of measles case in Ontario were infants, children and adolescents, while 24.5 percent were adults. More than 96 percent of all infant, child and adolescent outbreak cases were unimmunized, while 67.3 of adults were unimmunized. A total of 1.9 percent of all cases were pregnant women, with 74.4 percent unimmunized. Six cases of congenital measles, infants diagnosed in the first 10 days of life, have been identified since the Ontario outbreak began on October 30, 2024. SWPH reported 727 cases in the region from Oct 30, 2024 to June 5, 2025, 10 more measles cases since May 29, 2025. More than 74 percent of cases are 18 years old or younger. Nearly 89 percent of cases were unimmunized people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), before widespread measles vaccinations were available in 1963, major epidemics occurred about every two-to-three years, causing an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year. An estimated 107,500 people died from measles in 2023. Accelerated immunization activities prevented an estimated 60 million deaths from 2000 to 2023, according to WHO. Vaccinations decreased estimated measles deaths from 800,062 in 2000 to 107,500 in 2022. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jacinda Ardern Documentary ‘Prime Minister' Shows Us How the New Zealand Leader Is the Anti-Trump
On June 10 at a packed auditorium in Marina Del Rey, California, the former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern (2017-2023) comforted a room full of anxious Americans by showing them what empathetic leadership looks like. She was answering questions from Rachel Bloom at Live Talks Los Angeles about her new memoir 'A Different Kind of Power.' She is also the subject of the Sundance World Cinema audience-award-winning documentary 'Prime Minister' (CNN/HBO), which Magnolia opens in theaters June 13. 'Over the course of my time in office,' Ardern told the rapt audience, 'we had a domestic terror attack that took the lives of 51 members of our Muslim community. We had a pandemic, we had a volcanic eruption, we had a series of natural disasters. I saw and experienced a lot of difficult moments, and in all of them, I can give you examples of incredible kindness and humanity and generosity. I still fundamentally believe [that is] our natural inclination. We currently have a disconnect where that is not what is on display by political leadership. Because instead, politics has decided that blame and the weaponization of fear is a better response to the difficult period we're in, than the much more challenging response in politics, which is to actually solve the problems that people are facing.' More from IndieWire 'In Your Dreams' Teaser: The Search for the Sandman Powers Netflix's New Animated Sibling Fantasy Gold List TV Honors 'Squid Game,' 'Deli Boys,' 'The Studio,' and More Ardern's story is remarkable. She reluctantly ran for Prime Minister in 2017 after the Labour candidate dipped in the polls, and her party eventually, after intense negotiations with smaller parties, squeaked to a win. Three days before the results were announced, Ardern found out that she was pregnant. She took office in October 2017 at age 37, the youngest in New Zealand's history, the youngest country leader at that time in the world, and the third woman to serve as New Zealand Prime Minister. In due time, she gave birth to a daughter, only the second elected world leader to do so (after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto). From the start, Ardern made it clear that her partner, Clark Gayford, would be the primary caregiver for their child. A former TV anchorman, Gayford was not only used to being in the spotlight but knew how to wield a video camera. He filmed their life behind the scenes from 2017 through her decision to step down five years later, after her popularity waned. 'The only thing that I ever found overrode self-doubt was my grinding sense of responsibility,' said Ardern. 'I knew that I had to answer the call. And so from then on, I just had to get on with it. So that was what did it.' That intimate footage was key to assembling 'Prime Minister,' which could have become a local production. But when producer Gigi Pritzker came on board, she brought in ace editor Lindsay Utz (Oscar-winner 'American Factory,' 'Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry,' 'Martha') to make a film with global appeal that was bigger than a New Zealand political story. Making her feature debut, Utz co-directed with New Zealand's Michelle Walsh. The film was seven years in the making. 'Everybody that was working on it in New Zealand recognized that it was a powerful moment in time and it should be documented,' Utz told me. 'But there was never any plan until Jacinda resigned and came to the States.' When the New Zealand team came to America to finance the movie, American financier Pritzker showed Utz some video. 'I only had to look at about two minutes to know that I wanted to take on the project,' said Utz. 'At the time, I looked at the breastfeeding footage. I had just had my second baby, and I was struggling with similar issues, common issues that women struggle with. And so this film became two countries and two teams coming together.' The Rt. Honorable Dame Ardern now serves as a fellow at Harvard University. When Utz got started, Ardern had moved to the East Coast, so the director was able to meet and bond with her in Boston. She and Walsh interviewed Ardern together and also got access to New Zealand's oral history project and 40 hours of audio diaries that had been recorded when Ardern was in office. 'That's a gift right from the documentary heavens,' said Utz, whose editorial background was an asset as the film melded together archive and fresh interviews. The first rough cut assemblage ran 17 hours. The editing team took a year to wrestle the movie down to one hour and 42 minutes. The directors wanted Ardern's voice 'to be at the center of the film,' said Utz, 'almost as if you're sitting next to her and she's telling you a story. The approach was using the audio diaries as a portal into the past and then doing these incredibly intimate interviews with her. And we were lucky, because she was writing her memoir at the time, so she was in this contemplative space. And you can see that in the interviews, they're pretty raw. She's pretty raw. She's still processing what she's just been through. We wanted it to feel like reflection, and intimate, but we were always aware that we wanted the past to be propulsive and move forward in a verité way. So we had to balance the past and the present.' Front and center was Ardern's model of a different kind of governing. 'She showed up unapologetically as herself,' said Utz. 'And that's what people take note of. They feel the authenticity, and they feel the conviction. And she demonstrates that you can be both empathetic and strong, that you can be kind and have resolve. It was important to us to show the portrait of the leader that we saw.' Remarkably, Ardern gave the filmmakers leeway. 'She did not have control,' said Utz. 'She was a good subject. You can imagine it's hard for Clark, because he shot a lot of this footage, to let go. We were given space to work and figure out how to craft this movie, and she didn't see it cut until after we submitted to Sundance.' The filmmakers screened 'Prime Minister' for Ardern in New York. 'Michelle and I were sitting in the room squeezing each other, sitting a few aisles behind her,' said Utz. 'She's watching it for the first time, and that's always a nerve-wracking experience. A lot of it is hard for her to watch, but because she is such a lover of history and documentation, she understood that even the stuff that she is embarrassed by is all part of the story. And she gave us great freedom to do what we thought was right.' As you watch the documentary, it's striking how different New Zealand is from the United States, where it's hard to imagine many of the accomplishments of Ardern's administration even being possible, from shutting down the entire country during COVID, saving 20,000 people's lives, to ordering her citizens to turn in their arms. After the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019, the government implemented strict gun control reforms. Within weeks, Parliament passed a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons, nearly unanimously. The months-long government buyback program, by the end of 2019, collected over 56,000 banned firearms and almost 200,000 illegal gun parts. 'It's surreal to watch this,' said Utz, 'because it feels like another planet.' The parliamentary system in New Zealand also favors the election of women in Parliament. Still, Ardern is something of a unicorn in today's tumultuous right-leaning times. 'You see the political will behind the scenes,' said Utz. 'And you see the passion, and you feel her commitment to these issues. We didn't want to make a film that was dissecting all of her policies. We wanted this to be an intimate, personal journey of a woman on the world stage, facing all sorts of things that women face: the balance of work and motherhood, what it looks like to have a supportive partner. This was a family story, too. You were invested in them as a family, because they were a unit, that's how she functioned, that's how she did her job.' Another aspect of the Ardern story: New Zealand has always been a progressive country. But that did not protect her when the wolves began to circle. Her popularity soared and then fell after months of organized protests. 'Russian cells were pumping disinformation into New Zealand,' said Utz. 'The New Zealand public was interacting with that disinformation at a much higher rate than other countries at that time. There was the anti-vaccine sentiment, of course, that we saw in lots of places in the world, that became a powerful force. And Quanon and our American politics were being looked at and studied and admired.' When the economy tanked after COVID, Ardern was under tremendous pressure, and decided to resign before the end of her term. 'A lot of people have anger towards her, still to this day, about her policies,' said Utz, '[saying] they were too draconian, too strict, put too much emphasis on life and not enough on the economy, although [Ardern's government] did do a lot to support families and people during the pandemic. You could find people on both sides of that issue.' As the movie hits theaters, Utz is 'secretly thrilled that we got a film about a progressive politician into theaters nationwide,' she said. 'It feels like something unique right now. People are desperate for some light and some inspiration. And she's good at that.' Where Ardern goes, applause follows. 'We could not move anywhere in Park City without being stopped by somebody in the streets,' said Utz. 'Since then, it's been playing at festivals, and we're getting the same reaction everywhere. There's palpable emotion in the room. We opened Sundance Mexico City last week. It's hitting a nerve, it's touching something inside.' At her Live Talks Los Angeles event, Ardern held the audience in her hand. She knows where the laughs and groans are and that she represents the polar opposite of Donald Trump. She's everything that our current administration is not. And she offers hope for what an alternative could look like. She told a story about the early days of her experience in Parliament. After a particularly grueling round of debate one day, Ardern went to one of the tougher politicians and asked how she should toughen up. He said: 'Just a minute, don't toughen up. If you toughen up, you will lose your empathy, and that is what's going to make you good at your job.' That was the moment, Ardern said, 'that I decided that actually thin-skin sensitivity, it's all empathy. And he was right, if I lost it, I lost something else. So that was just going to have to be the price I was going to pay. Politics was going to feel hard, but maybe it was meant to feel hard.' From there, Ardern learned to ignore comments, to filter, to avoid reviews. 'I would decide when I engaged on social media and when I didn't,' said Ardern. 'And when I was Prime Minister, I knew the media, and it was a saving grace, because it meant I dealt with the issue of the day, not the commentary on the issue of the day, and it meant that I was always facing forward, rather than trying to correct something that had happened in the past.' She also took control of her schedule. 'I was in a role where it was assumed that you couldn't,' said Ardern. And she focused on finding quality time for her child. 'The thing I found the hardest was I might be physically there, but I wasn't always mentally there. And so if I'm going to be home for that time, I need to make bath time count. I thought about the memories I wanted to have of that time, and I didn't want her to see a stressed mom.' At the end of 'Prime Minister,' Ardern and Gaylord get married. 'It's always a good thing,' said Utz. 'Can you have a wedding? Use it.' 'Prime Minister' opens from Magnolia Pictures on Friday, June 13. Best of IndieWire The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme' Nightmare Film Shoots: The 38 Most Grueling Films Ever Made, from 'Deliverance' to 'The Wages of Fear'
Los Angeles Times
20 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
The gift Trump never meant to give: the spotlight to Democratic adversary Gavin Newsom
SACRAMENTO — President Trump craves attention and will stoop to any depth to grab it — even pour gasoline on a kindling fire in Los Angeles. But this time he unwittingly provided priceless attention for an adversary. Because Trump needlessly deployed National Guard troops and — more ridiculous, a Marine battalion to L.A. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom was granted a prime-time speaking slot on national cable television to respond. 'We honor their service. We honor their bravery,' Newsom said of the troops. 'But we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere … . 'California may be first — but it clearly won't end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. The moment we've feared has arrived.' I'm not sure the 'democracy is under assault' message has much traction, but keeping armed combat forces off our streets must be a salable pitch. Regardless, governors almost never get national TV time to deliver entire speeches, even as brief as Newsom's. You've practically got to be nominated for president. But the publicity-thirsty sitting president provided the cameras for California's governor. Newsom's strong address probably boosted his stock within the Democrat Party and revived dormant speculation about a 2028 presidential bid. No longer was the Democratic governor playing respectful nice guy and tempering criticism of the Republican president. Now he was standing up to the bully who loves to use California, Newsom and our progressive politics as a punching bag. Trump's red-state supporters love every swipe at this 'left coast' state. Newsom rose to the occasion, using his greatest asset: invaluable communication skills coupled with telegenic looks. He laid out his version of what happened to turn relatively peaceful protests against federal immigration raids into destructive street violence. And it's the correct version by objective accounts. On Saturday, Newsom said, federal immigration agents 'jumped out of an unmarked van' near a Home Depot parking lot and 'began grabbing people. A deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb … . In response, everyday Angelenos' exercised their constitutional right to protest. Police were dispatched to keep the peace and mostly were successful, the governor continued. But then tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades were used — by federal agents, Newsom implied. Then Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops 'illegally and for no reason,' the governor asserted. 'This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation … . Anxiety for families and friends ramped up. Protests started again … . Several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive.' Newsom warned: 'That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated. Full stop.' And hundreds have been arrested. But he emphasized: 'This situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. But that's not what Donald Trump wanted … . He chose theatrics over public safety.' In Trump's twisted view, if he hadn't sent in the National Guard, 'Los Angeles would be completely obliterated.' Never mind that the violence was confined to a few downtown blocks, a fraction of a city that spreads over 500 square miles. 'We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free and clean again,' the president promised. Veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy had it right, telling CNN: 'He's lighting the fire as an arsonist, then claiming to be the fireman.' It reminded me of President Lyndon B. Johnson's manufactured Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964 that Congress passed, enabling him to vastly escalate U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson reported a North Vietnamese attack on U.S. destroyers that many experts later concluded never happened. But I think Trump mainly is obsessed with attracting attention. He knows he'll get it by being provocative. Never mind the accuracy of his words or the wisdom of his actions. Sending in the Marines certainly was an eye-opener. So is staging a military parade on his birthday — an abuse of troops for attention, personal glorification and exercise of his own power. He'll say anything provocative without thinking it through: Tariffs one day, suspended the next. He'll boast of sending San Joaquin Valley water to L.A. for fighting fires when it's physically impossible to deliver it. While Trump was playing politics with immigrants and L.A. turmoil, a poll finding was released that should have pleased him. Californians no longer support providing public healthcare for immigrants living here illegally, the independent Public Policy Institute of California reported. Adult state residents were opposed by 58% to 41% in a survey taken before the L.A. trouble erupted. By contrast, a PPIC poll in 2021 found that Californians favored providing state healthcare for undocumented immigrants by 66% to 31%. Polling director Mark Baldassare concluded the public opposition stems mostly from the view that California taxpayers can't afford the costly program — not that they agree with Trump's anti-immigrant demagoguery. In fact, Newson has proposed paring back the state's multibillion-dollar program of providing Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants because the state budget has been spewing red ink. Given all the rhetoric about the L.A. protests, the statement that particularly impressed me came from freshman Assemblyman Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), whose downtown district stretches from Koreatown to Chinatown. 'Rocks thrown at officers, CHP cars and Waymo vehicles set on fire, arson on the 101 freeway — have nothing to do with immigration, justice or the values of our communities,' he said in a statement Sunday. 'These are not protesters — they were agitators. Their actions are reckless, dangerous and playing into exactly what Trump wants.' Gonzalez is a liberal former chairman of the L.A. County Democratic Party who stuck to his point: Hoodlums can't be tolerated. And, thanks to Trump, Newsom was able to make a similar point about the president on national TV: His dangerous, self-serving actions can't be tolerated either.
