Latest news with #vaccineskepticism
New York Times
a day ago
- Health
- New York Times
Susan Monarez Faces Daunting Challenges as C.D.C. Director
Susan Monarez, confirmed as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday night, now faces challenges unlike any ever confronted by a leader of the troubled agency. Dr. Monarez, 50, has more than 20 years of government experience, and in that sense is more qualified than some recent C.D.C. directors — even if she's the first non-physician to be handed the role. But it's not clear that decades in government will help her resist the unscientific policies and organizational chaos set in motion by her new bosses. The Trump administration is dismembering the agency, firing thousands of employees and moving many of its core functions to a new entity, the Administration for a Healthy America, in Washington. A leading vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is now the nation's health secretary. He has been voluble about what he sees as collusion between federal regulators, like those at the C.D.C., and the drug industry to hide the harms of vaccines from the public. He has repeatedly undermined vaccines and has replaced members of an influential advisory committee on immunization policy with people whose skeptical views align with his own. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBC
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Can RFK Jr. save B.C.'s death row ostriches?
A New York City billionaire and conservative talk radio host. Two of the most vocally antivax members of Donald Trump's administration. Protesters associated with the "Freedom Convoy" that occupied downtown Ottawa in 2022. What do they have in common? They all want to save a herd of more than 400 ostriches on a small farm in rural British Columbia. Earlier this year, Universal Ostrich Farms was ordered to cull their remaining birds after an outbreak of avian flu killed dozens of them. But the farm has been fighting the government's order in court, claiming the ostriches' antibodies are crucial for research into alternatives to traditional vaccines. Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, a reporter with Canada's National Observer, explains why the farm's story has spread so widely through the right-wing media ecosystem, finding so much synergy with vaccine skepticism, climate denial, and other conspiracy theories about shadowy bids for global control.
