All posts tagged: CDC

The South Carolina Measles Outbreak Is Slowing Down

The South Carolina Measles Outbreak Is Slowing Down

Published by skeptic

A large measles outbreak in South Carolina is finally showing signs of slowing down as the total number of cases in the state nears 1,000. For several weeks now, the state has experienced a downward trend in new infections, with approximately 10 cases being reported per week. At its peak in mid-January, the state was reporting around 200 new cases a week. The South Carolina outbreak is the largest measles outbreak in the US in more than 30 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has confirmed 1,281 measles cases across the country this year, as of March 5. That is already more than half of the documented cases in 2025, which totaled 2,283. Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, a status attained when there has been no ongoing transmission within the country for longer than a year. Even with cases in South Carolina abating, the US is now at risk of losing its measles elimination status. According to the CDC, there have been 12 …

Why RFK’s CDC Is Endorsing ‘Shared Decisionmaking’ for Vaccines

Why RFK’s CDC Is Endorsing ‘Shared Decisionmaking’ for Vaccines

Published by skeptic

In the year that US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been in office, his agency has made unprecedented changes to the childhood immunization schedule, removing universal recommendations for a half-dozen vaccines in favor of “shared clinical decisionmaking.” The term has become something of a mantra for Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, who is also temporarily leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said he believes “very fundamentally in shared decisionmaking.” And in her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate health committee in February, US surgeon general nominee Casey Means invoked shared clinical decisionmaking when senators pressed her about her views on vaccines. On its face, the term seems reasonable. It refers to a conversation between a health care provider and a patient or their guardian about the benefits and risks of a medical intervention and whether it makes sense for that individual to receive it. But public health experts say that the term has been co-opted by the …

After CDC vaccine changes, states push to keep childhood shots free, accessible

After CDC vaccine changes, states push to keep childhood shots free, accessible

Published by Sam Flores

As the Trump administration shakes up recommendations for childhood vaccines, a growing number of states are moving quickly to ensure vaccines remain free and health care workers are protected from lawsuits. “States are stepping in to protect their communities proactively,” said Dr. David Higgins, a practicing pediatrician in Aurora, Colorado, and vice president of the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Colorado is one of at least six states — along with Alaska, California, Illinois, Maryland and Vermont — that have introduced vaccine-related bills in recent months, in an unprecedented break from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which overhauled the childhood vaccine schedule in early January. Colorado’s Senate Bill 32 stands out as the most extensive of the proposals. It would expand malpractice liability protections for health care providers — including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, clinics, hospitals and insurance companies — related to childhood vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the leading pediatricians group, as well as the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. This protection is important because lawsuits can be …

Calling the Shots: Tracking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Moves on Vaccines | Healthiest Communities Health News

Calling the Shots: Tracking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Moves on Vaccines | Healthiest Communities Health News

Published by Sam Flores

It was one of President Donald Trump’s more audacious picks for his Cabinet: anti-vaccine activist and alternative health advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to helm the nation’s health department. Kennedy, however, won over the senators needed to confirm him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, promising not to remove government website statements pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism and to keep current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems intact. Ahead of being tapped by Trump for the role, he said he wouldn’t take vaccines away from those who wanted them while stressing a desire for individual choice. Since his confirmation, Kennedy has toed the line between backing vaccination as a preventive public health tool and making statements or overseeing developments that threaten to undermine that tool. His moves have played out against the backdrop of an explosion in vaccine-preventable measles cases in West Texas and an intense flu season that resulted in high rates of hospitalization, along with bird flu outbreaks that have raised the specter of another pandemic. Here’s …

Administration blocked as it tries to cut CDC funds that Trump just signed into law : NPR

Administration blocked as it tries to cut CDC funds that Trump just signed into law : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

OMB Director Russell Vought (center, behind President Trump) is the lead defendant in a lawsuit brought by four state attorneys general over more than $600 million in cuts to CDC grants announced this week. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem and Interior Sec. Doug Burgum are also pictured in the Oval Office in June 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images It was deja vu from 2025: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week announced more than $600 million in cuts to public health grants in California, Illinois, Colorado and Minnesota — four Democratic-led states. Right away, attorneys general in the affected states filed their lawsuit late Wednesday in a federal district court in Illinois asking for the temporary restraining order. And the next day, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s action with a temporary restraining order released late Thursday. In an opinion accompanying the order, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah wrote that even though the stated reason for the cancellations was that the grants did not align …

CDC Quietly Rewrites Its Vaccine-Autism Guidance

CDC Quietly Rewrites Its Vaccine-Autism Guidance

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Maryanne Demasi via The Brownstone Institute, For the first time in a generation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has rewritten its official position on whether vaccines can cause autism. This is a change that could reshape one of the most politically charged and emotionally fraught debates in modern medicine. In a website update published on 19 November 2025, the agency now states that the long-standing claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is “not an evidence-based claim” because scientific studies “have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” The page also acknowledges that “studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.” It’s difficult to overstate the significance of these statements. For nearly two decades, they would have been unthinkable for a federal public health agency. The timing is equally striking. The change arrives at a moment when the political and scientific landscape around vaccine safety is undergoing a marked shift inside the Trump–Kennedy administration. For months, critics have accused Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and several …

CDC changes flu vaccine recommendation for children : Shots

CDC changes flu vaccine recommendation for children : Shots

Published by Sam Flores

A child receives an immunization at a Florida pediatrician’s office in Sept. 2025. Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America hide caption toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America Every year, Dr. Molly O’Shea’s pediatric practices would hold drive-thru clinics in the parking lot to make it as easy as possible for busy parents to quickly get their kids their annual flu and COVID-19 shots. “We would do big flu clinics. You know, hundreds — literally hundreds – of families would come through at one time and when they’d roll down their windows we would give vaccine,” O’Shea says. But those days are gone. “No more drive-thrus. That’s out. We can’t do that anymore,” O’Shea says. That’s because last spring Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped the recommendation that all kids routinely get COVID shots. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week did the same thing for six other childhood immunizations, including the annual flu shot. Instead, the CDC now says parents should talk to a health care provider about …

The CDC Just Sidelined These Childhood Vaccines. Here’s What They Prevent : Shots

The CDC Just Sidelined These Childhood Vaccines. Here’s What They Prevent : Shots

Published by Sam Flores

A bandage is seen on a child’s arm after she received a COVID vaccine on November 3, 2021 in Shoreline, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption David Ryder/Getty Images The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability, and death. Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend — against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rotavirus — have prevented nearly 2 million hospitalizations and more than 90,000 deaths in the past 30 years, according to the CDC’s own publications. Vaccines against the three diseases, as well as those against respiratory syncytial virus, meningococcal disease, flu, and COVID, are now recommended only for children at high risk of serious illness or after “shared clinical decision-making,” or consultation between doctors and parents. The CDC maintained its recommendations for 11 childhood vaccines: measles, mumps, and rubella; whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria; the bacterial disease known as Hib; …

What Is the ‘Super Flu’ That Is Spreading in Europe and the United States?

What Is the ‘Super Flu’ That Is Spreading in Europe and the United States?

Published by skeptic

The spread of influenza became more severe this fall, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designated the 2024-25 flu season as the most severe season since 2017-18. In the UK, the spread has begun earlier than at any time since 2003-04. Against this backdrop, some media outlets have begun using the term “super flu.” However, this term is not an official medical term. The actual name is “subclade K,” a new variant of influenza A H3N2. This variant has multiple mutations in a protein on the surface of the virus called hemagglutinin, making it antigenically different from the variants used in existing vaccines. This allows it to partially evade immunity acquired through previous infection or vaccines, making people more susceptible to infection. Genetic analysis by the UK Health Security Agency has revealed that 87 percent of H3N2 viruses detected since late August 2025 are subclade K. The Outbreak Began Earlier Than Usual The term “super flu” is not necessarily scientifically accurate. The H3N2 …