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CNN
19 minutes ago
- CNN
Cutting federal funds for mRNA vaccine leaves the US vulnerable, experts say
This week, President Donald Trump called Operation Warp Speed, a public-private federal program that helped speed up the development and distribution of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines in record time 'one of the most incredible things ever done in this country.' It was just a day after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the federal government was canceling a half-billion dollars in investments into the same technology, saying no new mRNA projects will be initiated under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Vaccine and preparedness experts said the decision could be disastrous for the United States, rendering another Operation Warp Speed impossible in case of threat from disease or bioweapons. Kennedy, who has a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, incorrectly suggested in his announcement that mRNA vaccine technology is ineffective, unsafe and unethical — comments that experts worry will put a chill on development even beyond the projects the government cut. Dr. Paul Offit joins The Lead In a statement about the cancellation, Kennedy said the decision was based on a review of science and expert opinions. 'Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,' Kennedy said in this week's announcement. 'That's why we're moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.' Kennedy said funding will be shifted 'toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,' such as whole virus vaccines, which use a weakened or deactivated version of a virus to trigger immunity. China developed a whole virus Covid-19 vaccine, but studies showed it wasn't nearly as effective as the mRNA vaccines. 'I wonder why we want to try and go back to the way it was in the 1940s when we had vaccines, but it took a really long time to make them,' Dr. Cynthia Leifer, a professor of immunology at Cornell University said. She equates the abandonment of mRNA research at this point to partially paying for a kitchen remodel and stopping to save money after the walls have been demolished. 'You'd be out your money and you don't have a kitchen,' Leifer said. The mRNA vaccine platform is uniquely suited to protect a country during a pandemic, said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. Not knowing what will cause the next pandemic, she said, 'mRNA vaccines offer real flexibility that other vaccine approaches don't.' For a flu vaccine, for example, makers use eggs to grow the virus. It's a complicated process that may require several months to make enough, Nuzzo said. But mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster, sometimes even in days, and don't require time to grow virus cultures. When making an mRNA vaccine, scientists take messenger RNA, a single strand of the genetic code, that can teach cells how 'read' and make a protein that triggers an immune response. Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, said the decision to 'wind down' the government's investment in mRNA vaccines is one of the worst public health decisions in decades, particularly for pandemic preparedness. Osterholm, who is the founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and author of the forthcoming book 'The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics,' said vaccines are a 'very, very small part of the pharmaceutical industry's portfolio' since there's not a lot of profit in vaccines. It's government money that drives companies to make them. Some mRNA projects are funded through other parts of the government, but Kennedy's announcement may undermine mRNA vaccines in general. 'The constant undercutting of support for vaccines is really a challenge. So the damage was twofold,' Osterholm said. 'If we had another pandemic today, we would have to watch large parts of the world not get vaccinated for several years and based on what's just happened, the United States would probably be at the end of the line, not the head of the line like it was in Covid.' Nuzzo said it's possible another pandemic may not happen during Trump's term, but the decision leaves the US vulnerable in another way: Retreat from investment in mRNA vaccines may even be seen as an opening for an attack. 'Defense posturing and defense preparation are the best form of deterrence for a biological attack,' she said.'It sends a bad signal to our adversaries about our commitments to protecting ourselves and our vulnerabilities to attack, let alone it stifles medical innovation.' Leaders in the Trump administration have pushed to bring drug manufacturing to the United States but experts say the choice to stop investing in mRNA vaccines will do the opposite. Dr. Katalin Karikó, who shared the Nobel prize in 2023 for her pioneering work on the mRNA vaccines, told CNN this week that she moved to the US from Hungary because America offered opportunities to develop innovative science. US scientists in the same position today will not see the same opportunities, she said, and they'll go where there's investment in their work. 'It is really the next generation that will suffer the most,' Karikó told CNN, Wednesday. 'When we have the next pandemic other countries will have to help us out.' CNNI's Christina MacFarlane and CNN's Betsy Klein contributed to this report
Entrepreneur
an hour ago
- Entrepreneur
AI Turns Grocery Aisles into Health Hubs with Precision Nutrition
Once passive spaces for transactional exchanges, supermarkets are becoming active agents in public health. At the heart of this shift is the pioneering work of Chandra Madhumanchi, an independent researcher whose recent study delves into the convergence of AI, nutrition, and healthcare. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. The concept of grocery shopping is undergoing a radical transformation thanks to innovations in artificial intelligence. Once passive spaces for transactional exchanges, supermarkets are becoming active agents in public health. At the heart of this shift is the pioneering work of Chandra Madhumanchi, an independent researcher whose recent study delves into the convergence of AI, nutrition, and healthcare. With a background in computational analysis and a keen focus on preventive health strategies, Madhumanchi outlines how AI is re-engineering the very fabric of how communities shop and live. Smart Algorithms on Your Shopping List AI-driven personalization has reshaped how we approach food choices. Advanced systems today combine collaborative filtering, content-based filtering, and deep learning to understand individual dietary needs. By analyzing data from wearables, medical histories, cultural preferences, and even real-time biometrics, these systems can generate highly tailored meal plans. For instance, RNNs and transformer models have achieved up to 87% accuracy in predicting food preferences while also optimizing nutrition. These capabilities help individuals save time reducing meal planning by 73% while improving dietary quality by over 40%. Health Equity at the Checkout Beyond convenience, AI holds promise for addressing critical public health disparities. Personalized nutrition interventions powered by AI have led to significant reductions in disease indicators: a 34% decrease in cardiovascular risk factors, a 42% improvement in glycemic control, and sustained weight loss of nearly 9% over two years. More importantly, these tools are helping bridge nutritional gaps in underserved communities. Through smart delivery algorithms and mobile access, AI has increased healthy food consumption by 52% and reduced food costs by nearly 20% in food deserts. These outcomes reflect not just personal health wins but structural changes in food access. Precision Logistics: Food Meets Forecasting Retail operations have equally benefited from AI. Demand forecasting tools, powered by LSTM networks and gradient boosting, now predict trends in health-focused products with up to 51% more accuracy than traditional methods. These tools reduce overstock of perishables by 38% and prevent stockouts by nearly half. Additionally, predictive analytics in cold-chain logistics integrating IoT sensor data on temperature and freshness have cut food waste by 41% and extended shelf life by almost three days. This logistical finesse aligns inventory not just with sales goals but with community health profiles, ensuring the right nutrients are available when and where they're needed. Tech-Enabled Healthcare, Aisle by Aisle Perhaps the most striking innovation is how AI connects clinical health advice directly to consumer behavior. HIPAA-compliant platforms now translate doctor-recommended dietary plans into smart shopping lists. Integration between health records and retail systems has improved dietary adherence by 38% and reduced hospital readmissions due to diet-related issues by 31%. In-store AI tools also support scheduling for nutrition consultations, which have surged in use by 156%. Even insurers are taking note, offering premium discounts of up to 25% for users actively engaging with AI nutrition tools. Ethics, Access, and the Digital Nutrition Divide However, these innovations are not without challenges. Data privacy remains paramount. Systems now employ zero-knowledge proofs and federated learning to ensure sensitive health data is protected, achieving a 99.97% prevention rate against breaches. Equitable access is also being addressed: AI apps now function on basic smartphones and support 43 languages, expanding reach across literacy and income barriers. Community kiosks and government benefit integration are making these tools accessible to an additional 23 million people. Still, ongoing governance and regulatory frameworks must ensure these systems remain fair, transparent, and inclusive. Looking Ahead: Where AI Nutrition Goes from Here The future of AI-powered nutrition is rich with potential. Quantum computing may soon enhance the ability to match dietary plans to genetic profiles with staggering speed. Integration of microbiome data already boosts personalization by 76%, and augmented reality applications are poised to make in-store experiences interactive and informative. Meanwhile, predictive models are increasingly able to forecast disease risk years in advance, aiming for interventions long before symptoms appear. In conclusion, as highlighted in the work of Chandra Madhumanchi, AI in grocery retail is not just a technological upgrade; it's a social innovation. With the power to enhance individual wellness, reduce systemic healthcare costs, and build equitable food systems, AI-powered nutrition is ushering in a new era of smart, health-conscious living. The once-simple act of grocery shopping now carries the potential to transform lives, one personalized recommendation at a time.
Medscape
an hour ago
- Medscape
Cannabis, Psychedelics Get High Marks for Eating Disorder
TOPLINE: Cannabis and psychedelics were rated as the most effective drugs for symptom relief by survey participants with eating disorders (EDs), including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder (BED). On the other hand, patients perceived prescription antidepressants as mainly providing benefits for overall mental health. METHODOLOGY: Researchers analyzed responses to the international online MED-FED survey between 2022 and 2023. The study included more than 6000 adults (mean age, 24.3 years; 94% women; 82% White) who self-reported an ED (62%) or disordered eating (38%) and were predominantly from Australia (30%), the UK (21%), and the US (18%). The highest percentage of ED type was anorexia nervosa (41%), bulimia nervosa (19%), and BED (11%). Additionally, 65% had comorbid depression. The survey included questions on recent (previous 12 months) use of prescription drugs, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, cannabis, psychedelics, prosocial or party drugs such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, stimulants, and opioids. Participants rated their agreement on a 5-point Likert scale regarding each drug's effects on ED symptoms, overall benefits for mental health, and unpleasant side effects. TAKEAWAY: Cannabis was used by 56% of participants, with its daily use being particularly high among those with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (odds ratio, 2.4; P < .001). Psilocybin and cannabis received the highest positive rating for relieving ED symptoms (mean rating, 0.50 for both), followed by lysergic acid diethylamide (mean rating, 0.3). Prescription antidepressants were rated effective for improving overall mental health but not for relieving ED symptoms, with the exceptions of lisdexamfetamine for BED (mean rating, 1.14) and fluoxetine for bulimia nervosa (mean rating, 0.50). Alcohol and amphetamines (mean rating, -0.52 for both) received the poorest ratings for symptom improvement. Unpleasant adverse effects were least likely to be reported with the use of lamotrigine (mean rating, -0.49), illicitly sourced diazepam (mean rating, -0.40), bupropion (mean rating, -0.29), and psilocybin (mean rating, -0.30). IN PRACTICE: 'These findings highlight an important pattern: with traditional medications often falling short in treating eating disorders directly, while many individuals are self-medicating with substances they perceive as helpful,' lead investigator Sarah-Catherine Rodan, the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, said in a press release. The results also suggest that 'more research, including large clinical trials, should be undertaken around the beneficial effects of cannabis and psychedelics for people with eating disorders,' she added. SOURCE: The study was published online on July 22 in JAMA Network Open. LIMITATIONS: The study predominantly involved high-income English-speaking countries and participants with internet access, potentially introducing a selection bias. The sample may have also been influenced by novelty-seeking individuals or those with positive experiences with drugs. The reliance on self-diagnosis without formal assessment of EDs or comorbid conditions, along with potential recall bias in self-reporting of drug use and clinical features, limited the generalizability of findings. Some findings involved relatively small numbers of people with specific diagnoses using specific drugs, and the positive public perception of cannabis and psychedelics may have influenced ratings through expectation and placebo effects. DISCLOSURES: The study was funded by the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney. Several investigators reported having financial ties with various sources, and some reported holding share options, patents, and expert-witness roles with pharmaceutical and cannabis-industry entities. Full details are listed in the original article. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
