NIH crackdown on mRNA research: The Trump administration’s march toward scientific censorship
The Trump administration, with Kennedy as its public health executioner, is determined to roll back decades of scientific progress.
•Marc Wells
Argentina
The 75th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 7
Healthcare on the brink: Palliative Care Unit and Late Shift
Late Shift in particular is a stirring tribute to an important layer of the working class that takes its work seriously despite adverse circumstances.
•Martin Nowak, Bernd Reinhardt
RFK Jr.’s CDC plans to resurrect the unfounded link between vaccines and autism
The CDC’s decision to reinvestigate links between vaccines and autism after decades of scientific inquiry that showed no such connection is a bellwether moment in the anti-public health trajectory of Trump’s fascistic policies.
•Benjamin Mateus
Second measles death in US reported by New Mexico health officials
New Mexico health officials confirmed on Thursday that an unvaccinated adult from Lea County on the border with Texas tested positive for measles after having died.
•Kevin Reed
US Food and Drug Administration cancels advisory panel meeting on flu vaccines
The abrupt cancelation by the FDA of the vaccine advisory committee meeting to determine next flu season’s vaccine has potentially catastrophic public health implications.
•Benjamin Mateus
Alarm grows as “mystery illness” in Congo has now killed 60 people and infected over 1,000
Delays in reporting relate to near non-existent infrastructure conditions and poorly resourced facilities.
•Benjamin Mateus
RFK Jr. greets first measles death in Texas outbreak with callous indifference
The death of the unvaccinated school-aged child marks the first fatality from measles in the United States in 10 years.
•Bill Shaw
COVID excess deaths “saved” $300 billion in Social Security payments
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that in the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 1.75 million excess deaths.
•Benjamin Mateus
Trump slashes medical research funded by the National Institutes of Health
The planned $4 billion cut in funding for scientific inquiry to the nation’s universities and academic medical institutions will have devastating consequences on research into treatments for such conditions as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
•Benjamin Mateus, Bill Shaw
Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas City, Kansas is one of the largest in US history
Health officials are downplaying the TB danger, although the outbreak has continued for a full year with no end in sight.
•Benjamin Mateus
US quits the World Health Organization and sabotages international public health
The ending of the commitment to the World Health Organization by the United States poses as an existential threat to the well-being of the international working class.
•Benjamin Mateus
5 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the return of Trump and the war on public health
Trump returns to the White House as the tenth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic once again inundates hospitals, while the last vestiges of public health are set for destruction.
•Benjamin Mateus, Evan Blake
Surge of respiratory viruses infecting millions worldwide in first weeks of 2025
The northern hemisphere is facing not only a surge of COVID infections, but flu, RSV, and norovirus cases are skyrocketing.
•Benjamin Mateus
“If people really understood the science behind all this, they would have a very different attitude”
Five years of the COVID-19 pandemic: An interview with Dr. Arijit Chakravarty
In this interview, Dr. Chakravarty discusses the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and public health globally five years after the initial outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Wuhan, China.
•Benjamin Mateus
RFK Jr. adviser petitioned the FDA to revoke the polio vaccine 2 years ago
Aaron Siri, the attorney who is advising Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed a petition with the FDA in 2022 to revoke the polio vaccine due to supposed safety concerns, it was revealed last week.
•Benjamin Mateus
California governor declares a state of emergency over bird flu threat
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in California over the explosion of bird flu among dairy cows in the state. Meanwhile the first critical case of a person infected with bird flu was confirmed in Louisiana.
•Benjamin Mateus
House select committee gives bipartisan approval to the Wuhan “Lab leak” lies about the origins of COVID-19
The report of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic embraces the baseless campaign fomented by the fascist right blaming a Chinese lab for starting the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Benjamin Mateus
The for-profit health insurance racket: From HMOs to “Value-based care”
Pioneered by the Obama administration and the Affordable Care Act, value-based care has become an important mechanism for subordinating all health services to corporate profits.
•Esther Galen
Fluoridation of community water and the politics of disinformation
Robert F Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has promised to end water fluoridation, a program which has been called one of the ten greatest achievements in public health.
•Benjamin Mateus
Fluoridation of community water and the politics of disinformation
Robert F Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has promised to end water fluoridation, a program which has been called one of the 10 greatest achievements in public health.
•Benjamin Mateus