Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Recommends RSV Vaccine For High-Risk People 50 And Older
AP: RSV Vaccine Access Expanded To Some People In Their 50s, According To CDC Website
The Trump administration appears to be expanding RSV vaccinations to some adults starting at age 50, down from 60, following the advice of a recently fired panel of government vaccine advisers. The decision appears on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage but as of Wednesday wasn’t on the agency’s official adult immunization schedule. In April, the CDC’s influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended expanding RSV vaccination to high-risk adults as young as 50, too. But the CDC lacks a director to decide whether to adopt that recommendation and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. didn’t immediately act. (Neergaard, 7/2)
Stat: Purported Biotech Industry Memo Calls RFK Jr. A ‘Direct Threat To Public Health'
A memo that purports to summarize a meeting held by members of a leading biotech trade group suggests deep concern about health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stance on vaccines, and describes him as a “direct threat to public health.” (DeAngelis and Chen, 7/2)
CIDRAP: Catch-Up Needed After Non-COVID Vaccination Plunges In First 2 Pandemic Years
Non–COVID-19 vaccination dropped in the first 2 years of the pandemic, raising concerns about potential outbreaks of avoidable diseases, the resurgence of previously controlled diseases, and widening health disparities for people with weakened immune systems, according to a study published in PLOS One. (Van Beusekom, 7/2)
On covid vaccines —
AP: Trump Administration Official Restricted COVID Vaccine Approvals, Overruling FDA Staff
The government’s top vaccine official working under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently restricted the approval of two COVID-19 vaccines, disregarding recommendations from government scientists, according to federal documents released Wednesday. The new memos from the Food and Drug Administration show how the agency’s vaccine chief, Dr. Vinay Prasad, personally intervened to place restrictions on COVID shots from vaccine makers Novavax and Moderna. Both vaccines were approved by the FDA in May after months of analysis by rank-and-file FDA reviewers. (Perrone, 7/3)
On measles and screwworm —
CIDRAP: More Measles Outbreaks Put US Total Within Single Digits Of Modern-Day Record
In its weekly update today, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 40 more measles cases today, boosting the number of infections this year to 1,267, which is just 8 shy of passing the total in 2019, which was the highest since the disease was eliminated in the country in 2000. Though the large outbreak in West Texas has slowed substantially, the number of smaller outbreaks and travel-related cases continues to grow. (Schnirring, 7/2)
Axios: US To Breed Flies To Combat Screwworm Maggot Threat At Mexico Border
The Trump administration plans to breed and sterilize billions of flies to airdrop over Mexico and southern Texas in an effort to stamp out the New World screwworm (NWS). (Falconer, 7/2)
