Free Republic

A vaccine to protect against fentanyl’s deadly effects is headed for clinical trials in humans. The vaccine, which showed positive results in studies of mice and rats, is designed to block fentanyl from entering the brain, blocking its effects and preventing overdoses. If approved, it would become the first treatment to prevent overdoses of fentanyl, which is the leading cause of drug overdose death, statistics show. This is different than treatments like naloxone, which reverse the effects after an overdose. How it works The vaccine is designed to create antibodies against fentanyl, which keeps the drug from crossing the blood–brain...

Infants vaccinated in their second month of life were more likely to die in their third month than unvaccinated infants, according to an analysis of data obtained from the Louisiana Department of Health. Children’s Health Defense scientists Brian Hooker, Ph.D., and Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., who conducted the analysis, called on health authorities to make similar datasets available for independent analysis, arguing that transparency is essential for evaluating vaccine safety at the population level. ================================================================ Infants vaccinated in their second month of life were more likely to die in their third month than unvaccinated infants, according to an analysis of data...

CDC just published its 2025 vaccine schedules. We have now gone from 7 routine vaccine injections in 1986 to over 200 routine vaccine injections in 2025. In 1986, before vaccine makers had broad immunity to liability for injuries, CDC's schedule had 7 routine childhood injections and none for adults or pregnant women. CDC's 2025 schedule has 5 routine injections during pregnancy, over 70 routine childhood injections (birth to age 18), and over 130 routine adult injections (up to age 79). Counting non-routine injections, there are even more. Here is an image comparing injections up to only 1 year of age...

Agency officials were not aware that the HHS secretary was going to change the recommended vaccine schedule.Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s surprise announcement Tuesday ending coronavirus vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women blindsided the agency that offers that advice, according to current and former federal health officials.Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scrambling to understand Kennedy’s decision, announced in a 58-second video on X on Tuesday Five hours later, CDC officials received a one-page “secretarial directive,” dated May 19 and signed by Kennedy, that contradicts some of what he said...

The move could shift long-standing practices of how and when children are immunized in the United States.ATLANTA — The newly formed vaccine advisory committee handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that it would examine the cumulative effect of the childhood vaccine schedule and reevaluate hepatitis B immunization recommendations — moves that could shift long-standing practices of how and when children are immunized in the United States. Kennedy, who previously founded an anti-vaccine group, has long called for an investigation into the number of shots children receive. Medical experts say Kennedy has falsely linked an...

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed six vaccines from the recommended list for American children on Monday, a sweeping decision that could have widespread consequences for U.S. public health. Before Monday, the CDC had recommended vaccines against 17 different diseases for children across the nation, but the decision announced Monday cut that number to 11. The vaccines removed from the list include shots for rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and meningitis, according to documents released by the federal Health Department. Shots against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria,...

The biggest story of 2025, to judge from the number of people who sent it to me, was this raccoon: In case you somehow missed this story: In late November, this raccoon got into a state liquor store in Ashland, Va., by falling though the ceiling. Once inside, the raccoon ransacked the store, leaving a trail of broken bottles... ...and apparently consuming a large quantity of booze before passing out in the bathroom next to the toilet. That’s where the raccoon was found by a store employee, who called an animal-control officer, who took it to an animal shelter. When...

Ralph Lee Abraham, MD, has a questionable public health track recordThe CDC's internal email server now lists Louisiana physician Ralph Lee Abraham, MD, as the agency's principal deputy director. Until now, Abraham served as Louisiana's surgeon general. The above screenshot was provided to Inside Medicine on the condition of anonymity. While the news has not yet been publicly announced, an HHS spokesperson confirmed this on Tuesday. 'An Irresponsible Choice' One source, a national public health expert who previously served in government and is familiar with Abraham's career, said that this would be "an irresponsible choice." He added, "He's a dangerous...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that it’s possible vaccines cause autism, in a reversal of its previous stance.A sign at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 25, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times“The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism,” the CDC said in a Nov. 19 update to its website. “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”The CDC cited a 2006 paper that analyzed surveys of parents with...

The CDC altered a webpage Wednesday dealing with autism and vaccines to state that the idea that vaccines don't cause autism "is not an evidence-based claim." The page notes that "studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism," adding that "Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities." The development was first reported by The New York Times.The site now contains information often cited by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including that the rise in autism diagnoses since the 1980s coincides with more childhood vaccines administered. "Though the cause of autism is likely...

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage that previously made the case that vaccines don’t cause autism now says they might. The contents of the webpage came up during Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Senate confirmation process. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) in February said Kennedy had assured him that, if he was confirmed, the CDC would “not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.” The revised webpage says: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines...

In a startling first, a Washington state man has been infected with a strain of bird flu previously only detected in animals. The “severely ill” man was hospitalized with a high fever, confusion and respiratory distress earlier this month and confirmed to have H5N5, a subtype of avian influenza carried by wild birds such as ducks and geese. The Washington State Department of Health described the unidentified patient as being “older” and having “underlying health conditions.” The agency noted that the man has a “mixed backyard flock of domestic poultry” at his home in Grays Harbor County, in the southwest...

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — The ongoing government shutdown is creating challenges for healthcare providers across the country as they enter flu season without access to updated federal disease tracking data. CDC dashboards that normally help healthcare providers prepare for illness spikes have not been updated for weeks due to the shutdown, forcing doctors to adjust their approach to patient care and illness prevention. Dr. Aaron Olson, medical director of La Crosse Area Neighborhood Family Clinics, said the missing data affects how his practice prepares for seasonal illness patterns. "Some of the ways we might use the CDC data is...

ATLANTA (AP) — CDC researchers are being forced to skip a pivotal conference on infectious disease this week due to the government shutdown, missing out on high-level discussions not long after surges in measles and whooping cough hit the U.S. IDWeek, the largest annual meeting of infectious disease experts in the nation, is the leading venue for experts to trade information about diagnosing, treating and preventing threats including bird flu, superbugs and HIV, among many other topics. The CDC typically sends scores of researchers and outbreak investigators. But of the hundreds of speakers listed in the printed program for the...

The encounter began Thursday afternoon when the woman identified as Patricia Schuh allegedly shined a blinding light in the face of HHS aide Sara Kennedy and yelled “Free Palestine,” chasing her across a lobby and into a bathroom while screaming “slut,” the New York Post reported.

In his resignation-by-tweet from the CDC, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Monkeypox Czar and LGBTQ+ advocate Demetre Daskalakis, made a telling comment: “Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world.”His words paralleled the words of fictional scientist Dr. Mann from the film Interstellar who, just seconds before his own recklessness sent him into the vacuum of space, declared: “This isn’t about my life, or Cooper’s life, this is about all mankind.”And President Biden made an eerily similar statement...

The agency needs to be strengthened, not torn downHis long record of fomenting distrust of vaccinesopens in a new tab or window and purveying false and misleadingopens in a new tab or window health information -- and now even stoking animusopens in a new tab or window against career scientists -- is shaping national policy. The consequences are reverberating across America's most venerable scientific institutions like the FDA and NIH. But there is no agency where the damage is so palpable and enduring than the CDC, America's frontline agency against health threats. Kennedy's campaign -- including his recent declaration that...

If you, by chance, believed that congressional committees were helmed by elected officials who did their homework and were trying to do more than get face time on the evening news, you certainly learned this week what a farce these hearings can be. Here’s Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, members of which are richly financed by the pharmaceutical companies that have made mountains of money on vaccines: [video at link] If you didn’t realize before this that the CDC needs a thorough housekeeping after it mandated -- with no scientific basis -- six-foot distances and...

Last week the newly-confirmed head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Susan Monarez, was abruptly fired by President Trump, barely a month after receiving her Senate confirmation in July. Although Monarez was new to CDC as of the second Trump term, her career in high-level government positions runs back to through the Biden, Trump I, and Obama administrations. Upon announcement of Monarez’s firing, the press was immediately filled with reports of “turmoil” at the agency. At least four high-ranking officials resigned in protest (even as Monarez tried to hang on). In addition, large numbers of staffers came forward (anonymously)...

President Trump on Friday expressed support for mandatory vaccines for school-aged children, amid Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.’s push to end unnecessary vaccination. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats sought to grill him about his personnel and vaccine guidance shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Per the Hill, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for those under 18. Kennedy, meanwhile, has fired all 17 sitting members of CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and also moved to oust...