Latest news with #RobertMalone
Wall Street Journal
20 hours ago
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
Meet RFK Jr.'s New Vaccine Advisers
We didn't think anyone could do more to damage trust in public health institutions than Anthony Fauci, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is giving it a whirl. See the eccentric crew the Health and Human Services Secretary has tapped to advise the department on vaccines. Mr. Kennedy this week purged the agency's independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), claiming its members had conflicts of interest. Those ostensible conflicts were well-managed. But Mr. Kennedy vowed his committee replacements 'will exercise independent judgment.' Readers can judge whether this is likely to be true. Two of his new members have served as 'expert' witnesses paid by plaintiff attorneys in lawsuits against vaccine makers. Conflicts, anyone? Biostatistician Martin Kulldorff backed claims against Merck over its HPV vaccine. Mr. Kennedy held a financial stake in one of the cases, which after he became secretary he bestowed to his son, who works at the law firm suing Merck, Wisner Baum. Another appointee is biochemist Robert Malone, a loud critic of the Covid mRNA vaccines. He also served as a paid expert in litigation against Merck's mumps vaccine, which was rejected by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Dr. Malone has downplayed the Texas measles outbreak and said two deaths of unvaccinated children owed to medical errors.
Bloomberg
21 hours ago
- Health
- Bloomberg
RFK Jr.'s New Vaccine Panel Includes Two Paid Witnesses Against Merck
Two new vaccine advisers tapped by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have served as paid expert witnesses for plaintiffs suing Merck & Co. over some of the drug company's inoculations targeting measles, mumps and cancer. Robert Malone, a scientist who has espoused debunked theories about the safety of vaccines, along with Martin Kulldorff, a Harvard-trained epidemiologist who has studied their side effects, were added to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's committee on immunization policy. Both men have been hired by plaintiffs' attorneys in the past to opine about Merck's handling of its vaccines, court filings show.
WIRED
a day ago
- Health
- WIRED
RFK Jr.'s Appointees to CDC Vaccine Panel Are Not Good
Jun 12, 2025 6:30 AM Robert Malone, a mainstay in conspiratorial circles, and Martin Kulldorff, a coauthor of the widely criticized Great Barrington Declaration, are two of the most concerning picks. Photograph:Anti-vaccine advocate and current Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to social media Wednesday to announce the names of eight people he is appointing to a critical federal vaccine advisory committee—which is currently empty after Kennedy abruptly fired all 17 previous members Monday. In the past, the vetting process for appointing new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) could take years. But Kennedy has taken just two days. The panel, typically stocked with vaccine, infectious disease, and public health experts, carefully and publicly reviews, analyzes, and debates vaccine data and offers recommendations to the CDC via votes. The CDC typically adopts the recommendations, which set clinical practices nationwide and determine insurance coverage for vaccinations. Yesterday, Kennedy pledged that none of the new ACIP members would be 'ideological anti-vaxxers.' However, the list of today's appointees includes Robert Malone, who falsely claims to have invented mRNA vaccines and has spent the past several years spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about them. Speaking at an anti-vaccine rally in 2022, Malone spread dangerous falsehoods about mRNA Covid-19 vaccines: 'These genetic vaccines can damage your children. They may damage their brains, their heart, their immune system and their ability to have children in the future. Many of these damages cannot be repaired.' Troubling List Malone aligned with the anti-vaccine crowd during the pandemic and has become a mainstay in conspiratorial circles and an ally to Kennedy. He has claimed that vaccines cause a 'form of AIDS,' amid other nonsense. He has also meddled with responses to the measles outbreak that erupted in West Texas in January. In April, Malone was the first to publicize news that a second child had died from the highly infectious and serious infection, but he did so to falsely claim that measles wasn't the cause and spread other dangerous misinformation. In a newsletter post earlier this week, Malone proclaimed: 'Some people still believe that the term anti-vaxxer is a pejorative. I do not—I view it as high praise.' Malone is just one of the eight names released today. Another is Martin Kulldorff, one of the coauthors of the widely criticized Great Barrington Declaration, which called for letting Covid-19 spread largely unabated. Health experts called it 'unethical.' Vicky Pebsworth is also on the list, as well as on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, one of the nation's oldest anti-vaccine groups that promotes the false claim that vaccines cause autism. Kennedy also appointed Retsef Levi, who has penned articles alleging dangers of Covid-19 vaccines, including a flawed 2022 article that was later corrected and an unpublished article coauthored with Covid-contrarian and Florida surgeon seneral Joseph Ladapo. The other four appointees are Joseph R. Hibbeln, a psychiatrist; Cody Meissner, a pediatrician; James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician; and Michael Ross, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology. The appointments are likely to increase concern that federal vaccine recommendations will be corrupted and lead to Americans losing access to lifesaving vaccines. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Hundreds of CDC employees reinstated after being laid off
The Brief Over 460 CDC employees have been reinstated after April layoffs, mainly from public health divisions. Thousands of jobs remain unfilled, with no word on further reinstatements. RFK Jr. appointed eight new vaccine advisers, including controversial figure Dr. Robert Malone. ATLANTA - More than 460 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been reinstated after being laid off earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. What we know The employees are among the approximately 2,400 CDC staffers let go in April, a move that sparked widespread backlash and legal challenges. According to HHS, the reinstated workers include 200 employees from the Center for HIV, Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention and another 150 from the Environmental Health division, which includes a lab focused on lead poisoning prevention. PREVIOUS STORIES Reactions to mass layoffs underway at Atlanta-based CDC 2,400 CDC jobs to be cut in HHS overhaul announced by Secretary Kennedy CDC to lose nearly 1,300 probationary employees under Trump's job cuts Former employees and public health advocates have criticized the layoffs for leaving vital public health positions vacant. Reese Williams, a former CDC worker, said the terminations affected key personnel. "They fired a lot of our scientists, a lot of our public health communicators, a lot of anybody to do with DEI, birth defects, anything to do with smoke and health, domestic abuse and domestic violence," Williams said. Williams says the 2,400 roles that were eliminated this year played a critical role in public health. "They took a part a lot of the funding for our global partners. Funding that goes for Ebola or for these diseases that don't necessarily effect us, but could effect us, they took away a lot of that," she said. This is the second wave of reinstatements. In February, about 180 employees who were laid off were later asked to return. Despite the new round of rehirings, thousands of jobs remain unfilled, and officials have not indicated if additional reinstatements are forthcoming. Employees say many vital positions are still left empty. "Eventually, we will all feel this. Even the ones who think they won't feel it. We're going to feel it," Reese said. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed eight new members to the federal vaccine advisory committee. The move follows his abrupt dismissal of the previous panel earlier this week. Among the new appointees is Dr. Robert Malone, a controversial figure known for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. RELATED STORIES RFK Jr.'s newest CDC vaccine panel includes critics of COVID shots, lockdowns Protest against CDC vaccine committee firings held at Atlanta headquarters RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine panel The committee advises the CDC director on how approved vaccines should be used nationwide.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Japan Times
Kennedy replaces fired U.S. CDC vaccine panel members
U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. named eight members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on Wednesday, including several who have advocated against vaccines, after abruptly firing all 17 members of the independent committee of experts. They will sit on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the agency on who should get the shots after they are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The group of eight — the minimum number allowed by the ACIP founding charter — includes four who have previously worked on committees associated with either the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, or both. Others have published papers, posted on social media, or written online biographies with anti-vaccine views, including against the mRNA vaccine technology used in some of the newest immunizations such as the COVID-19 vaccine. Among them is Robert Malone, one of the most prominent voices opposing mRNA vaccines. He is aligned with Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement. The group also includes Joseph Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael Ross. Kennedy, who has long questioned the safety of vaccines contrary to scientific evidence, alleged that the prior panel members, many of whom were appointed by former U.S. President Joe Biden, had conflicts of interest, without providing evidence of specific members' conflicts. He said the move was necessary "to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science." Committee members said their ACIP work follows rigorous vetting of their financial ties and that they must abstain from votes on any vaccine for which they have a conflict. Kennedy said on social media platform X that the panel would attend its June 25 meeting. Advisers had been expected to deliberate and vote on who should receive a number of vaccines, including the flu shot and 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine boosters, and the meeting had been slated for June 25-27. No agenda has been published yet. Shares of vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer, which both produced mRNA COVID vaccines, fell marginally while those of Novavax, which did not utilize mRNA in its vaccine, rose marginally in after-hours trading. It is unclear how new members of the panel have been vetted for conflicts of interest, or when the vetting process began. Meissner and Pebsworth have served on the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, and Meissner also previously served on ACIP. Pebsworth is now associated with the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that advocates for vaccine exemptions and educates about vaccine injury. Kulldorff is an architect of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for a lighter public health response to COVID-19 in October 2020, and previously served on an ACIP vaccine safety subgroup. Levi has in the past said mRNA vaccines can cause serious harm and death, especially among children, and called for their immediate withdrawal. Ross, a professor at George Washington University, is an operating partner of Havencrest Capital Management, a firm focused on health care investments, according to its website. The FDA has found that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are generally safe and effective, but Commissioner Marty Makary has questioned the benefit of repeated annual shots for healthy, younger Americans.
