Scientist In Charge Of US Preparedness Backed Debunked Covid Drug
Steven J. Hatfill, who pushed hydroxychloroquine against all scientific evidence in the early days of the pandemic, has joined the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and is now tasked with preparing the U.S. for disasters such as pandemics and biological and chemical attacks.
The Washington Post:
U.S. Preparedness Agency Hires Scientist Who Pushed Failed Covid Drug
Steven J. Hatfill, a virologist and White House adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term who pushed hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus despite what most researchers said was a lack of scientific evidence, has joined the second Trump administration in a senior role at the Department of Health and Human Services. Hatfill will begin his second week Monday as special adviser in the director’s office at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a small agency responsible for preparing the U.S. for disasters such as pandemics and biological and chemical attacks. (Sun, Rein and Johnson, 5/4)
On measles, flu, and vaccines —
CBS News:
Weekly Measles Cases Hit New Record Amid Worst Outbreak Since 1990s
Weekly measles cases have set a new record, according to figures published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, topping the peak of an outbreak in 2019 that ranked as the worst since the 1990s. The number of cases that had their symptoms start during the week of March 30 has grown to 111, according to the agency's latest update. Authorities backdate newly reported measles cases based on when their rash began, to account for delays in reporting and diagnosis. (Tin, 5/2)
AP:
CDC Reports 216 Child Deaths This Flu Season, The Most In 15 Years
More U.S. children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago, according to a federal report released Friday. The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eclipse the 207 reported last year. It’s the most since the 2009-2010 H1N1 global flu pandemic. It’s a startlingly high number, given that the flu season is still going on. The final pediatric death tally for the 2023-2024 flu season wasn’t counted until autumn. (Stobbe, 5/2
AP:
A Community Rallied To Share Flu Shot Experiences. Then The Government Stopped The Study
Some Denver parents got texts during this winter’s brutal flu season with videos sharing why people in their neighborhoods chose flu shots for their kids, an unusual study about trust and vaccines in a historically Black community. But no one will know how it worked out: The Trump administration canceled the project before the data could be analyzed -- and researchers aren’t the only ones upset. (Neergaard, 5/3)
CIDRAP:
HHS, NIH Announce Universal Vaccine Platform, Promote Placebo Trials For New Vaccines
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced a next-generation, universal vaccine platform called Generation Gold Standard, using a beta-propiolactone (BPL)-inactivated, whole-virus platform. “Generation Gold Standard is a paradigm shift,” said NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, in a press release. “It extends vaccine protection beyond strain-specific limits and prepares for flu viral threats – not just today’s, but tomorrow’s as well – using traditional vaccine technology brought into the 21st century.” (Soucheray, 5/2)
KFF Health News:
Trump Team’s $500 Million Bet On Old Vaccine Technology Puzzles Scientists
The Trump administration’s unprecedented $500 million grant for a broadly protective flu shot has confounded vaccine and pandemic preparedness experts, who said the project was in early stages, relied on old technology, and was just one of more than 200 such efforts. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shifted the money from a pandemic preparedness fund to a vaccine development program led by two scientists whom the administration recently named to senior positions at the National Institutes of Health. (Allen, 5/5)
Once eradicated, the screwworm could be back —
Bloomberg:
Deadly Screwworm Parasite’s Comeback Threatens Texas Cattle, US Beef Supply
A “flying piranha” that eats its host from the inside out, the screwworm is capable of killing a full-grown steer in just 10 days. It was a relentless, deadly blight on America’s livestock for decades from the 1930s, costing ranchers and the US economy hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Now, after being eradicated from the US since the early 1980s and largely forgotten, top veterinarians expect the screwworm could be back as soon as the summer. (Darbyshire, 5/2)
