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White House has halted changing vaccine schedule as it is unpopular, but anti-vaxx Trump set on ‘alleviating autism’Donald Trump is pushing longtime vaccine opponent and current health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be more aggressive on cutting vaccines in the US, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.Trump has a long record of anti-vaccine statements, but the White House recently put a hold on vaccine changes after polling indicated they were a losing issue in the midterm elections. Continue reading...

Experts say evidence for cognitive screening desired by health secretary ‘not great’ as taskforce idle since last yearThe US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has called for better Alzheimer’s screening – but a critical federal panel that might have helped researchers find practical ways to do that has been prevented from meeting for more than a year.The panel, formally called the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), had planned to issue a recommendation on screening for cognitive decline this year, alongside 13 other topics as varied as autism screening and food allergy prevention. Continue reading...

• An FDA advisory panel narrowly voted to recommend allowing compounding pharmacies to produce BPC-157 and KPV, two popular but unproven peptides. • The decision follows advocacy from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who pushed for increased access to these substances despite their lack of formal FDA approval. • This move is significant as it challenges standard regulatory hurdles for unapproved drugs, potentially expanding patient access to experimental treatments.

Health secretary says source has been identified despite experts warning infections are likely to keep risingHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis – the illness caused by the cyclospora parasite that causes watery and explosive diarrhea – is “under control”.Kennedy made the remarks one day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did an about-face on a 27-state recall of shredded iceberg lettuce, calling the reported product a “false positive”. Continue reading...

During confirmation hearing Wednesday, Trump’s pick tells Senate health committee she will ‘never betray the science’Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s latest nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), faced sharp questioning from senators who pressed her to say whether she would stand up to her boss, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.During her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Schwartz, a deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, told the Senate health committee she “will never betray the science” and pledged to use “radical transparency” to rebuild public trust. But she repeatedly deflected questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy, a leader in the anti-vaccine movement who has overseen months of turmoil at the agency and made controversial changes to US vaccine policies. Continue reading...

US preventive services taskforce’s members have not issued binding recommendations since March 2025The health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s overhaul of an influential federal advisory group has stalled an update that would have highlighted “encouraging” new evidence on helping children quit tobacco, according to a recently departed member of the group.The Trump administration has postponed or canceled all meetings of the US preventive services taskforce since March 2025, effectively preventing taskforce members from issuing binding recommendations for more than a year. As a result, 14 topics under consideration have been stalled – including on cervical cancer screening, perinatal depression and autism screening. Continue reading...

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced a policy direction to reclassify 14 specific peptides, though the exact regulatory mechanics are still being finalized. • The current challenge is that none of these 14 peptides have undergone the formal FDA approval process, which requires phase 1 through 3 clinical trials and manufacturing validation. • This shift matters because it highlights a gap between how patients typically use these peptides and the rigorous safety and efficacy reviews required for a New Drug Application.

• Allies of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are working to embed his vaccine agenda within institutions by influencing research priorities and policy translation, despite ongoing legal and political challenges. • New York health officials have accused Tiger Medical Holdings of "smuggling" alloClae, a popular injectable filler derived from human fat, into the state. • While Tiger Medical Holdings claims FDA premarket approval is unnecessary, New York officials assert the company lacks the required state permits to store and distribute human tissue.

Kennedy repeatedly said 2019 Samoa trip had ‘nothing to do with vaccines’. An email from his then colleague says they were on a vaccine-related ‘mission’New evidence has emerged that Robert F Kennedy Jr was on a vaccine-related “mission” when he visited Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, raising further questions about whether the US health secretary lied to the US Senate when he said the trip had “nothing to do with vaccines”.Records obtained by the Guardian show Kennedy’s colleague told Samoan officials in an email that he and Kennedy were coming as part of a mission to study the island nation’s medical records in the aftermath of a “discontinuity in vaccinations”. Continue reading...

Kennedy overrides CDC order saying an American who came into contact with hantavirus can self-quarantine The Trump administration is employing “authoritarian” and “unconstitutional” quarantine measures for at least one person who came into contact with a hantavirus patient, health law experts say.The mandatory quarantine, reimposed without an offering scientific evidence, reveals how the US might approach future cases of Ebola and other pathogens in the US – and sets a precedent for detaining Americans with no scientific rationale. Continue reading...

Health advocates criticized Kennedy’s move demanding answers from journal that removed ‘flawed’ vaccine studyRobert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, is demanding answers from a medical journal that recently removed a paper suggesting a link between vaccines and infant death, saying their decision was “of great interest to me”.Public health advocates immediately criticized the move, and said Kennedy appeared to be trying to intimidate and influence the journal’s editorial process. The journal Toxicology Reports had removed the paper this spring after editors determined it was so seriously flawed it could harm patients and pose a risk to public health. Continue reading...

Desperate US parents pay up to $20,000 a session for a procedure scientists say could be bogusAutistic children as young as 18 months old are being injected with human stem cells derived from umbilical cords in unapproved, unproven and potentially harmful “treatments” that scientists warn are proliferating across the US under the active encouragement of the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.Clinics in Florida, Texas and other states are selling what they bill as “regenerative medicine” to families with autistic children who have intensive care needs. Parents who have taken their children through the process talked to the Guardian about their hopes and fears for a therapy that appears to be gaining ground in the US. Continue reading...

Scientists praise moves to investigate, retract or remove controversial studies. The authors stand by their workThree scientific papers that raised questions about vaccine safety and were used by the Trump administration to justify controversial changes to US vaccine policies have over the last two months been removed, retracted or placed under investigation by the journals that published them.In some cases, the actions occurred years after scientists first raised alarms about the studies’ scientific merits. Continue reading...

US health secretary gets nip from one of two serpents he grabbed at home of fellow Trump official Dr OzHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on Tuesday added to his lengthening catalog of bizarre wild animal encounters by posting to social media a video of himself in Florida wrestling with two snakes.Kennedy, who has previously admitted dumping the carcass of a bear cub in New York’s Central Park, and is also alleged to have cut the penis of a road-kill raccoon, is seen grabbing the pair of serpents with his bare hands. Continue reading...

US Preventive Services Task Force had already been largely sidelined before health secretary fired its two chairsThe Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans.In letters dated 11 May, the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, notified the two doctors who chaired the US Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms. Continue reading...

• Greens are increasingly conflicted but starting to benefit from embracing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement. • Environmental groups publicly rejected Kennedy during his presidential run, but some are now quietly aligning with the longtime environmental attorney. • The shift matters as it bridges divides between traditional greens and MAHA's health-focused agenda, potentially amplifying influence on policy.

Plan promotes ‘deprescribing’ as psychiatrists warn crisis stems from lack of access to care, not overuseThe federal health department will begin a series of steps intended to curb antidepressant use in the US, Robert F Kennedy Jr announced this week.Antidepressants, specifically selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, have long been a target for Kennedy, the Trump administration’s health secretary, who talked about the plans at an event Monday hosted by the Make America Healthy Again Institute, an organization focused on advancing the MAHA agenda. He has claimed without evidence that the drugs are linked to a rise in school shootings and has expressed concerns about weaning off the medications and withdrawal symptoms. Continue reading...

Health officials in Trump administration were accused of fueling ‘crisis of public trust’ over autism and vaccinesMisinformation from top health officials in the Trump administration has created a “crisis of public trust” – and Congress should conduct oversight hearings and possibly impeach officials such as Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a recently released report.Experts say that officials in the past year have focused intently on both vaccines and autism, including efforts to connect autism to the use of acetaminophen (frequently sold as Tylenol) during pregnancy, despite growing evidence of no link, and replacing all members of the federal autism committee with advisers who have anti-vaccine and pseudoscientific histories. Continue reading...

• The Trump administration filed an appeal Wednesday evening against a Massachusetts federal judge's March 16 ruling that blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s overhaul of the nation's childhood vaccine schedule. • Judge Brian Murphy had ruled that Kennedy replaced the CDC's vaccine advisory committee "unlawfully" and placed any decisions made by the committee on hold. • The appeal signals the administration's intention to proceed with restructuring the vaccine advisory process despite legal challenges to its authority.

Judge’s repeal of Trump ban on gender-affirming care for children ‘a meaningful win for patients’, experts sayA federal judge overturned the Trump administration’s ban on gender-affirming care for children on Saturday, decrying Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “wanton disregard” for the law that “causes very real harm to very real people”.It’s another loss for Kennedy’s agenda as secretary for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the second Trump administration – an agenda that has focused on restricting healthcare, including vaccines, abortion and gender-affirming care. Continue reading...

Health secretary says ‘I had nothing to do with the measles outbreak’ and claims to support measles and MMR vaccinesHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr faced intense questioning from several US senators on Wednesday during a hearing largely focused on how the administration has responded to the measles outbreak and the spread of vaccine misinformation.In his opening remarks to the Senate finance committee, the senator Ron Wyden criticized Kennedy’s messaging on vaccines, saying: “When it comes to vaccines, Robert Kennedy has used this once-in-a-lifetime platform to make parents doubt themselves and doubt their doctors,” before adding: “The secretary has ducked, bobbed and weaved without taking the responsibility of saying what needs to be said: vaccines save lives in America.” Continue reading...

Secretary Kennedy Podcast so far seems designed to promote Trump administration talking points over any specific public health messageRobert F Kennedy Jr’s new Secretary Kennedy Podcast is a show that, so far, appears designed to promote Trump administration talking points over any specific public health message.Though, based on the trailer and episode one, which dropped last week, one might expect the Secretary Kennedy Podcast to be quite similar to the health secretary’s former show, The RFK Jr Podcast. In the trailer that dropped ahead of his new podcast’s release, Kennedy says: “Children are sicker, chronic disease is exploding and the answers we’ve been given aren’t working” – talking points that were common on his old series. He even adds: “Many of us have come to the conclusion that the government actually lies to us,” a statement that might have served his former podcast better, given that Kennedy is now a senior figure in the government. Continue reading...

• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine voice, praised President Trump's nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC Director and expressed his intention to work with her to restore the agency's mission. • Kennedy's public endorsement of the pro-vaccine nominee marked a sharp reversal from his previously hard-line stance on CDC leadership and sparked significant backlash among MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) loyalists online. • The shift comes amid congressional scrutiny of Kennedy's conflicting rhetoric on measles vaccination safety during a Thursday hearing, as measles outbreaks rise across the U.S.

Trump ally grilled by lawmakers over ‘terrible decisions’ on vaccines, public health and funding cuts to key programsUS politics – latest updatesVaccines and public health dominated a frequently contentious hearing with Robert F Kennedy Jr on Thursday before the US House ways and means committee.Kennedy, the controversial health secretary and a longtime vaccine opponent, has overseen sweeping changes to routine vaccination recommendations and has promoted misinformation even amid the biggest measles outbreak in decades. Continue reading...

Health secretary and chef Robert Irvine claim Americans could eat healthier and more cheaply if they shopped betterSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe first episode of the new Secretary Kennedy Podcast, produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), opens with this quote from guest Robert Irvine, who creates meal plans for the US military: “We talk about food being expensive. If you’re buying expensive food, it’s expensive. But if you’re buying food and you know what to do with it, it’s not expensive.”The episode is titled Fixing America’s Food System – Robert Irvine, and features a 45-minute conversation with the HHS secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the host of the show, and guest Irvine. Best known as a celebrity chef, Irvine has collaborated with the US military to launch Victory Fresh, a program that offers healthy grab-and-go meals on military bases, during the Biden administration. The program’s Biden-era origins are never acknowledged during the show. Continue reading...

Health secretary in a diary entry said his kids were in the car as he cut off animal’s genitals in 2001 to ‘study them later’Robert F Kennedy Jr once cut the penis off a road-killed raccoon in an incident that is just one of several involving dead animals that the controversial US health secretary has been involved in.A new book called RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise was published this week and reveals a diary entry for Kennedy that describes the prominent vaccine critic and leader of the “Make America healthy again” (Maha) movement stopping his car on a New York highway on 11 November 2001. Continue reading...

Judge rules that Trump’s health secretary did not go through proper procedures when issuing declarationRobert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, overstepped his power when he declared that gender-affirming treatments are unsafe, a federal judge has ruled.In a blow to the Trump administration’s attempts to limit access to gender transition procedures, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled Thursday that Kennedy did not go through the proper procedures when issuing his 12-page declaration last December. Continue reading...

Kennedy’s appointees promoted ‘treatments’ like bleach enemas, but new committee has only one autistic memberThe first public meeting of US autism advisers – notably, since Robert F Kennedy Jr reshaped the committee – was cancelled recently with few details, coinciding with the creation of a rival organization that has prompted some questions within the autistic community about their focus.Kennedy, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who has long argued for a debunked link between vaccines and autism, chose entirely new members for the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) in late January, with fewer autistic people and several anti-vaccine advocates. Continue reading...