Healthy Volunteers in Canada Paid to Be Infected With Influenza in Government-Funded Research
A new study registered with ClinicalTrials.gov is deliberately exposing healthy adults to a live influenza A(H3N2) virus in Canada. Health Canada’s Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate has approved the H3N2 challenge strain for use in humans specifically for the purposes of the study. The study is not evaluating a vaccine or other biologic, rather it’s […]
Top Adviser to Anthony Fauci Pleads Guilty to Federal Conspiracy to Hide COVID-19 Research Records
David Morens, MD, a senior adviser to Anthony Fauci, MD at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), pleaded guilty in federal court on Aug. 18, 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. The charge stems from a scheme to evade Freedom of Information […]
Live Experimental Pneumonic Plague Vaccines Being Developed After Repeated Attempts
University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) researchers have developed live attenuated experimental pneumonic plague vaccines that, according to a July 28, 2026 press release, fully protected mice in a preclinical study. The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine and, according to UTMB researchers, “challenge decades of assumptions about how immunity to plague works and […]
FDA Panel Backs mFlusiva mRNA Flu Shot for Elderly
Despite a number of significant limitations in the available safety and efficacy data for licensure review of Moderna, Inc.’s new mRNA influenza biologic mFlusiva, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee ((VRBPAC) voted on June 18, 2026 to recommend fast-tracked licensure of the first mRNA product to target […]
National Cancer Institute to Study Ivermectin as Potential Cancer Treatment
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) plans to conduct a study on the use of ivermectin to treat cancer, according to a top official. Ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic medication commonly used to treat various infections caused by internal and external parasites, such as parasitic worms and head lice, though the drug rose in popularity—and scrutiny—during […]
CDC’s ACIP: The Next Generation
On Sept. 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced the appointment of five additional members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The new members—Catherine Stein, PhD; Evelyn Griffin, MD; Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, MBA; Kirk Milhoan; MD, PhD; and Raymond Pollak, MD—bring […]