Senate Confirms Susan Monarez as Director of the CDC
(photo courtesy ARPA-H) On July 30, 2025, the U.S. Senate voted 51 to 47 to confirm the nomination of Susan Monarez, PhD to be director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The vote, along party lines, came three weeks after the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) decision […]
U.S. Withdraws Financial Support from Pharma’s Arm GAVI
The U.S. government has withdrawn a $1.2 billion pledge to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) originally made by the Biden administration. GAVI, which is officially known as Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private multilateral funding partnership launched in 2000 by the pharmaceutical industry, governments and private institutions and philanthropic organizations to […]
Push for National Bird Flu Vaccine Program as USDA Points to Falling Egg Prices After Gains in Biosecurity Containment
Publicity about avian influenza (H5N1) infecting chickens, turkeys and cows in the United States1 and globally has been widespread for several years as fears about the possibility of bird flu epidemics among humans have led to calls for acceleration of development and use of animal and human bird flu vaccines.2 3 4 5 In February […]
Doomsday Chorus Targeting Kennedy Gets Louder
In a show of protest against budget and staffing cuts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), former employees of the agency, scientists, and community activists organized a “die-in” demonstration outside the CDC’s Roybal Road campus in Atlanta, Georgia. On May 2, 2025, the Trump administration proposed a budget to Congress for […]
The Plot to Get RFK
An apparent leaked minutes document suggests that a trade association held a meeting in April to undo the confirmation of Kennedy by the duly elected U.S. Senate. It is embedded below. Caveat and Clarification All references to individuals, statements, or actions attributed in the leaked minutes of the BIO Vaccine Policy Steering Committee meeting held […]
CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel Purged
On June 9, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired all 17 members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) committee that makes national vaccine policy—the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). “A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Secretary Kennedy […]