Latest news with #Naziism
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
An Anti-Science MAHA Extremist Is Playing a Major Role at the FDA
If there's anything that Dr. Vinay Prasad, the controversial new appointee to lead the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, a top office at the Food and Drug Administration, loves to do, it's hurl an insult. Upon first glance, Prasad seems far more qualified than many other Trump appointees. He is a hematologist-oncologist and University of California at San Francisco professor who has amassed an unbelievable number of publications. But a quick visit to his now inactive Twitter/X page or his YouTube channel, which has almost 200,000 followers—quickly disproves that notion. Though he's always been somewhat iconoclastic, since the beginning of the pandemic, Prasad has become a radical Covid contrarian, amassing a following for his rampant tell-it-like-it-isn't views. Like a schoolyard bully, Prasad scuttles around the right-wing libertarian techbro corners of the internet, gleefully spreading misinformation in the basest terms possible, blocking many who disagree. A few examples: On public health leadership: 'These pieces of shit are still lying…. They're still fucking lying.' On the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics: 'The CDC lied repeatedly, and all the employees at CDC and AAP who told us to cloth mask 2 year olds should be fired for stupidity.' (AAP did not respond to my request for comment on Prasad's appointment to CBER.) On people who wear masks to protect themselves from smoke inhalation during fires: 'Masking without evidence is an untreated mental illness plaguing public health.' On long Covid: He has repeatedly downplayed it and called it 'overblown.' He claimed that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ed Yong 'did invent long Covid.' On people with long Covid trying to avoid reinfection: 'Haha double long covid. Just like double IPA!' On Covid testing, in June 2022: 'Break every home test…. The testing profiteers are killing us.' On his online critics: 'When you're dead, no one will ever think about you ever again.' On Covid restrictions: He says they are akin to a path to Naziism. And on the FDA, where he will hold a top role, just last year: '[we'd] probably be better off as a result of not having the FDA.' 'I am very disappointed with this appointment,' a prominent physician and researcher, who did not give his name for fear of retribution, told me. 'Prasad demonstrably got it repeatedly wrong during the pandemic. He is known for his contrarian views–which is not a bad thing if he got it right every once in a while; but he has a perfect record of striking out. What also worries me a great deal is his attitude toward patients and vulnerable populations; he has made multiple disparaging remarks toward patients with chronic illness.' Prasad has advocated for more trials and testing of new medical treatments before approval, reversing approval for the pediatric Covid vaccination, and a let-it-rip mentality when it comes to kids getting repeatedly infected. As early as 2021, he advocated that kids knowingly get each other sick and that Covid testing be banned. In 2023, he wrote a post entitled, 'Do not report COVID cases to schools & do not test yourself if you feel ill: Only non-violent resistance can halt irrational public health actors.' He has repeatedly said masks were ineffective, contrary to mountains of evidence. Though our public health institutions and the pharmaceutical industry certainly do deserve criticism, Prasad's way of doing business actually undercuts the efforts of legitimate reformers to bring the industry's bad actors to heel and unwind their worst policies. In this way, people like Prasad actually serve as the brilliant ally of these corporate interests, in that he helps to undermine the credibility of good-faith critics of the industry. More to the point, however, Prasad's behavior reveals a psychopathic lack of empathy, and his conclusions are almost always shockingly wrong. As he wrote in January 2023: It's important to remember that it was likely a lab leak, masks don't work, mandates didn't work, vaccines were not needed in people who had COVID, nor children, closing school was a human rights violation, masking kids didn't work, vaccine mandates were unethical, vaccine passports were useless, boosters don't have good data, paxlovid doesn't have good data, long COVID is overblown, et cetera. These are obvious things to those of us who can read. Many of Prasad's views that were seen as fringe in the earlier years of the pandemic, particularly around reopening schools, were slowly normalized during the Biden administration and have already informed policy, rather than science. Under the MAHA agenda, that will now go to extremes. 'A lot of the anti-vax folks use specious arguments to push disinformation,' said Dr. Michael Hoerger, a PhD researcher and top expert in tracking Covid data. 'That works well on social media, but they are going to be under much more scrutiny in government positions.' The fact that biotech stocks fell five percent within hours of the announcement of his appointment to CBER is telling. As virologist Angela Rasmussen put it in a tweet, he is 'seen as a menace to an entire industry.' Nicole Paulk, a biotech company CEO, elaborated in Citeline, a trade publication: 'Based on [Prasad's] books that he's written and the tweets that he has shared, and podcast that he has been on and all of these various public forums, it would seem to be that his position, kind of broadly regardless of modality is pretty anti-FDA, fairly anti-innovation, fairly anti-accelerated anything.' Case in point: Prasad has come out against the use of experimental treatments like Elevidys, a gene therapy that could help patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a fatal muscle-wasting disease, despite the fact that patient advocates favor its approval. Prasad's appointment arrives in the context of an unprecedented dismantling of public health and research in this country, under the guise of 'Make America Healthy Again.' With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the head of the Department of Health & Human Services, responsible public health policies as we know them are effectively dead. Elon Musk's so-called 'Department of Government Efficiency' has gutted the National Institutes of Health, leaving it unable to carry out even its most basic duties and cutting off critical, life-saving research. Anti-vaccine rhetoric is, of course, central to Kennedy's MAHA agenda, and future vaccine research and availability is already under threat as kids are already dying of measles, completely unnecessarily. Experts have been pushed out of their posts, and a culture of fear is already pervading health institutions. 'It is obvious that many doctors and scientists are self-censoring,' said Dr. Jonathan Howard, a neurologist at NYU Langone and author of the book, We Want Them Infected, which chronicles how certain doctors came to embrace the anti-vaccine movement. 'Given the purges at these agencies and vast canceling of grants, this is no surprise.' Indeed, a number of doctors to whom I reached out about Prasad's appointment to head CBER either declined to comment or wished to remain anonymous. I did not receive responses from major medical associations I contacted, either. Health initiatives related to the distinct outcomes for certain groups caught up in Trump's war against 'woke'—such as women—have been axed. Without research and data on future public health risks, such as bird flu, or current and ongoing ones like Covid-19, more people will get sick and die—and there's only so long that the Trump administration can pretend it isn't happening. That doesn't mean they won't try to hide such outcomes from the public view. Here, Prasad has signaled a willingness to participate in the cover-up: He seems to support the dangerous idea of blacking out critical data on Covid and other diseases. At their core, these policies constitute a basic disregard for human life. The Food and Drug Administration is being dealt a similar fate. Critical programs ensuring food safety, as well as vaccine research, have been unceremoniously cut. Prasad replaces the former head of CBER at the FDA, Peter Marks, who resigned in March due to RFK Jr.'s spreading of 'misinformation and lies.' Prasad, in his signature flippant tone, has compared Marks to 'a bobblehead doll that just stamps approval.' Now, Prasad serves under FDA director Martin Makary, a Trump lackey, while Jay Bhattacharya, another vociferous Covid critic, heads up NIH. All are part of the same contrarian clown show of dangerous anti-vax, anti-health MAGA bros loudly proclaiming their messages to audiences on X and YouTube—and now, the broader American public. Though in his initial remarks to the FDA, Prasad took on a more measured tone, FDA employees are panicking. STAT News reported that staff 'were alarmed by the decision to hire Prasad, who lacks regulatory experience and has more explicitly political views than center directors in the past. 'It's very bad,' one employee said. 'Another completely unqualified person who has no idea what regulation is running an important center.'' Under this leadership, Covid booster availability will likely be restricted, and approval for vaccines tackling future variants could be limited or halted entirely. Though uptake for boosters was already low, hovering around 23 percent for the 2024-2025 vaccine, it is clear that making it less available and discouraging it will only cause harm to the population. 'If boosters are not approved for next year, it's hard to imagine that COVID's impact would not disproportionately affect sick, vulnerable populations,' said Howard. 'Given prior comments downplaying the importance of vaccines, I am concerned about delays in vaccine approval,' added Hoerger. 'Delays in vaccine approvals will cost lives.'
Washington Post
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a family of 6 and a Hamas spokesman in Gaza
A family of six and a Hamas spokesman were killed in separate Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to the territory's Health Ministry and another Hamas official. In Israel, the parliament passed a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary, angering critics who view it as a power grab by his far-right government . Israel broke its ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza last week and has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since, killing more than 800 people. Israel has vowed to escalate the offensive if Hamas does not release hostages, disarm and leave the territory. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Holding signs calling for an end to the war in Gaza and new elections, the demonstrators packed a central square in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Addressing the crowd, a string of retired generals and former security officials warned that the government's actions were endangering Israel's security and said the country was 'on the brink of an abyss.' Hours earlier, Israel's parliament passed a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan, which sparked mass protests when it was first introduced in 2023. Protests have swelled in recent weeks amid growing anger over a flurry of actions by the government that many see as aimed at weakening checks on its power, and over its failure to secure a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza. European far-right leaders were in Jerusalem for a conference organized by the Israeli government aimed at ' combating antisemitism .' Thursday's event was shunned by mainstream Jewish leaders because of the divisive guest list. It illustrates a growing alliance between Israel — a country founded on the ashes of the Holocaust — with a European far-right that has not, some critics say, shed its links to antisemitism and Naziism during World War II. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads an ultranationalist government, has cultivated close ties in recent years with far-right populist leaders in countries like Hungary, Brazil and Argentina. Many of these leaders, including Netanyahu, have been greatly influenced by the policies and demeanor of U.S. President Donald Trump. Jordan Bardella , president of the far-right French National Rally party, gave a keynote address in which he blamed rising antisemitism in Europe on migration and Islamism. Lebanon's state news agency says an Israeli drone strike in the country's south hit a car, killing two people on Thursday afternoon in the village of Baraachit. The National News Agency gave no further details and it was not immediately clear if the two killed were members of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group. Israel's military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency says an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon killed three people. There was no comment from the Israeli military. The National News Agency said Thursday's strike occurred in the Yohmor area in south Lebanon. Israel's Arabic-language military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on the social platform X on Thursday that an Israeli strike late Wednesday killed an official with Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force in the southern village of Derdghaiya. Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November, ending the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israel's air forces has carried out dozens of airstrikes mainly targeting Hezbollah members. The long-range missiles were fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels and were intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory on Thursday, according to the military. Air-raid sirens were heard in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, central Israel and the occupied West Bank, with local media reporting fragments fell in several places. There were no reports of injuries. Since Israel broke the ceasefire last week, a handful of rockets have been fired from Gaza as well as missiles from Yemen. No one in Israel has been hurt. The Houthis claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack. The Iran-backed rebels have been attacking Israel and shipping off Yemen for well over a year, saying they aim to end Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Although Palestinian militants were once firing volleys of rockets each day out of Gaza, that dwindled to nearly zero over the course of the 17-month war. Israel's parliament has passed a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary, angering critics who view it as a power grab by his far-right government . The planned overhaul sparked mass demonstrations in 2023, leaving the country deeply divided ahead of Hamas' attack on Oct. 7 of that year, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The law that was passed Thursday gives the government a larger role in appointing judges. It would give two of the nine seats on the Judicial Selection Committee to lawyers chosen by the government and the opposition. Those seats are currently held by the Israeli Bar Association. The political appointees would have the power to veto nominations to Israel's Supreme Court and lower court appointments. Supporters of the measure say it gives more power to elected officials, while critics say it would undermine an independent body that provides essential checks and balances. The law would not take effect until the next parliament, and the opposition has vowed to repeal it if it regains power. A strike hit the tent where Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official. Another strike near Gaza City killed four children and their parents, according to the emergency service of Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel's war in Gaza has killed over 50,000 people, according to the territory's Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead. The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.
