Latest news with #IDSA
NHK
3 days ago
- Health
- NHK
US health secretary fires all members of vaccine advisory panel
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all the members of a vaccine advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that it removed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. In a statement from the HHS, Kennedy said "A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science". It said the Biden administration appointed all of the 17 sitting ACIP members. ACIP is comprised of outside experts including doctors and researchers who decide on whether to push forward vaccines to the CDC based on scientific data. The CDC chief makes the final call of whether to recommend the use of vaccines. ACIP recommended the use of vaccines for COVID-19. The Infectious Diseases Society of America said "Secretary Kennedy's allegations about the integrity of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are completely unfounded and will have a significant negative impact on Americans of all ages." The IDSA added that "Scientific recommendations about infectious diseases and vaccines that the public can trust require established experts to make them."
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Simon Harris was lobbied by arms industry, FoI records show
A lobby group for some of the world's largest arms companies pushed Simon Harris to establish an arms industry strategy. Records released under Freedom of Information show that the Irish Defence and Security Association (IDSA) wrote to Department of Defence assistant secretary general Eamonn Murtagh seeking to schedule a 'quarterly meeting' in late March. The following week, the group's directors, Catriona Heinl and Pat O'Connor, wrote 'a letter of introduction' to Mr Harris, who had been appointed defence minister in January. Lobbying register disclosures show a meeting was held on April 10 at the Department of Defence with the directors of the association to 'represent IDSA member priorities such as certainty surrounding industrial participation policy and industry strategy aspects'. In the letter, the group said it had a number of priorities which it says arose in light of both Irish and European commitments to increase military spending. The introductory letter says the step-up in national and European defence expenditures, 'will prompt the call for local industrial involvement' and that it 'is critical to shape these foundations at this stage'. 'IDSA has strongly recommended the need to develop the nation's defence industry strategy and thereby determine a defined industrial participation policy in defence procurement [in compliance with national/EU regulation].' IDSA members include Lockheed Martin The lobby group, whose members include the world's largest arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, told the department it 'can provide essential input, bringing national and European industry experience to relevant consultations'. The letter to Mr Harris goes on to say that 'there is an urgent need for active coordination with relevant ministries/agencies responsible for trade and the economy' and the industry and adds that 'the Government's expected economic benefit to Ireland of these increased national defence spend ambitions does not seem to have been yet provided for'. In March, EU 27 leaders signed off on a move to loosen budget restrictions so that willing EU countries can increase their military spending. They also urged the European Commission to explore new ways 'to facilitate significant defence spending at national level in all member states'. The IDSA letter says 'clarity will be needed on how Ireland will position itself in relation to EU Defence Industrial Strategy where the implications of an evolving but fast moving EU industrial focus for Ireland does not yet seem to be determined'. Harris proposed €3bn military budget Mr Harris told the 'Irish Examiner' in February that, 'over time', Ireland should raise military spending to €3bn a year, the highest level set out by the Commission on the Defence Forces 2022 report. That envisages 12 naval vessels, a squadron of combat aircraft, and the army ranger wing having 'an organic self-sustainment capability which would include dedicated combat helicopter assets'. Mr Harris said then: 'The programme for government talks about reaching what they call level of ambition two by 2028 and that basically gets to the €1.5bn. 'But I think we are going to have to go further than that in time. And the programme for Government does talk about moving towards level of ambition three. What I'm saying to the Irish people is €1.5bn should be seen as the floor and certainly not the ceiling in terms of where defence expenditure needs to get to.
Medscape
14-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Withdrawal of HIV Funding Hits Hard in the South
Cuts to HIV programming are affecting local prevention programs across the United States, but the potential impacts on public health and healthcare costs are especially high in the South, which accounted for approximately half of the nation's new HIV diagnoses in 2023, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As previously reported by Medscape Medical News , infectious disease experts emphasized how federal funding cuts threaten to undo decades of progress in HIV research, prevention, and treatment as programs are discontinued because of the lack of staff and money. 'States are unable to compensate for the significant shortfalls the president's budget will create, and funding losses will exacerbate physician shortages, limit access to care, curtail our ability to prevent outbreaks overseas before they reach our shores and decimate our ability to deliver lifesaving cures for generations to come,' said Tina Tan, MD, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), in a statement. 'While funding for some crucial activities, such as emerging infectious diseases surveillance, is maintained, virtually all areas of health are likely to be impacted by such massive cuts to foundational infrastructure,' Tan said. HIV programs are at particular risk. 'The drastic cuts to HIV public health and research programs proposed in the president's budget would leave America's HIV response in peril if enacted by Congress,' said Colleen Kelley, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and chair of the board of the HIV Medicine Association, in a statement shared by the IDSA. 'From small towns to big cities, every state across the country may lose lifesaving HIV prevention, testing and research programs,' Kelley said in the statement. 'The result will be more HIV infections nationwide, taking a devastating toll on health and the healthcare system,' she added. 'We are counting on Congress to keep Americans healthy by rejecting these ill-considered proposals,' Kelley said. Successful Programs May Be Shuttered One success story of HIV prevention slated to lose federal support is the Together TakeMeHome project, based out of Emory University. Georgia currently has the nation's highest rate of new HIV infections, with an estimated HIV incidence rate of 23.1 per 100,000 people in 2022, according to data from The Together TakeMeHome project was a tremendously successful home testing program that reached hundreds of thousands of people across the United States, Kelley said in an interview. Since its inception in 2023, the program has identified approximately 7000 individuals with new HIV diagnoses, she said. 'Those people can now get care and get into treatment, and those who tested negative through the program can seek PrEP [preexposure prophylaxis] if needed,' she added. The project will disappear 2 years ahead of schedule because of funding and personnel cuts, and the result will be more infections and more illnesses related to AIDS, Kelley said. Since half of the Division of HIV Prevention at the CDC has been laid off, much of the capacity building programs for state health departments is gone, Kelley told Medscape Medical News . The cuts to HIV prevention programs, especially in the South where rates are high, affect more than public health; they will drive up healthcare costs overall, she said. 'People getting sick and needing more care will increase costs, as someone getting their HIV/AIDS treatment in a hospital will incur far more than the few dollars cost to provide a home HIV test,' Kelley said.
