ACIP Attacked for Urging ‘Shared Decision-Making’
Former CDC director Tom Frieden and colleagues recently published a JAMA opinion piece condemning the CDC vaccine advisory committee’s endorsement of “shared decision-making” for future Covid-19 boosters. They argued the shift was an ethical lapse—even an “abdication of responsibility”—particularly for older adults. But what the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) proposed was nothing […]
Hantavirus, the WHO, and the Conflicts in Weighing Mortality
On May 12, 2026, almost 2,000 people, mostly young children, died of malaria because they could not access effective and relatively cheap treatment quickly enough. About 4,000 people died of tuberculosis (TB), including many young adults leaving orphans. This happens every day. Progress in reducing these numbers is stalling, as partly due to the continuing […]
The Story of the Victorian-Era Anti-Mandate Movement
The epithet “anti-vaxxer” is common in our time for anyone who resists mandates or resents the enormous legal privileges, protections, patents, and subsidies the industry receives today. It also pertains to those who attempt to bring attention to vaccine injury and death, a sensitive and even suppressed subject for an industry that relies on a […]
The Right to Health Sovereignty
International cooperation on health is a widely accepted global good. Capacity building and development assistance reduce historic health inequalities and, as a result, strengthen economies. Management of cross-border infectious disease threats is best done through joint surveillance, data sharing, and response. Collaboration on norms and standards provides efficiencies and facilitates trade in health products. However, […]
How to Build a Post-WHO Global Health Architecture
The United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) is more than a diplomatic rupture. It creates a unique opening to rethink how global health cooperation should actually work. The real question is not whether countries should cooperate. They must. Humans matter. Health brings economic stability. Pathogens cross borders. Data sharing matters. Standards matter. […]
Closing the Deal: The Misinforming of the G20 on Pandemics
The G20’s High Level Independent Panel (HLIP) on pandemic preparedness convened through 2025 to provide a report entitled Closing the Deal: Financing our Security Against Pandemic Threats to the November G20 Leaders’ Summit in South Africa. The report was as a follow-up to the HLIP’s 2022 report on A Global Deal for our Pandemic Age […]