VACCINES
CDC reverses stance that vaccines don't cause autism, breaking with years of scientific consensus
Adobe
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has publicly reversed its stance that vaccines do not cause autism over the objections of career staff and counter to years of scientific evidence.
Late Wednesday evening, a CDC webpage that previously said there's no link between autism and vaccines was quietly updated to call that claim "not evidence based." The updated page did not go through normal scientific clearance, according to people familiar with the situation. The change "blindsided" many longtime employees.
The person with the most egg on their face in this whole scenario? Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), whose vote sealed Kennedy's approval in the Senate. The changes to the CDC website appear to violate at least the spirit of a promise Kennedy made during his confirmation hearing.
I've written some version of this sentence so many times, but it bears repeating: vaccines don't cause autism. Multitudes of studies conducted over decades have failed to find compelling evidence of a link. But the website change is the latest proof that health secretary and longtime vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is remaking Health and Human Services in his image.
Read this story from my STAT colleagues for more information about what this website change portends for the federal government's approach to vaccines. STAT's John Wilkerson also has a breakdown of Cassidy's role in this endeavor, including the promise Kennedy made during his confirmation hearing — and how the CDC is honoring his commitment with probably the loudest asterisk on a federal health website I've ever seen.
POLITICS
New CDC priorities bolster Kennedy's priorities
Kennedy's power only grows: Trump administration officials laid out 16 strategic initiatives for the CDC this week, many of them bolstering the secretary's priorities, according to an internal agency memo.
One of the most notable inclusions on the list is a call for increasing hepatitis B screening for pregnant women, an idea administration health officials have previously raised in the context of pushing back the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, which is now given to babies at birth. The CDC's federal vaccine advisory panel is set to discuss the vaccine at a meeting early next month.
The initiatives offer a view into the administration's plans for an agency that has been at the center of Kennedy's reform agenda — and one that has been battered by a shooting, the firing of a new director less than a month into her role, and politics overpowering scientific processes. If you want to learn what other items are listed in the internal memo, read this story from STAT's Daniel Payne and Chelsea Cirruzzo.
HEALTH TECH
FDA OK's Paradromics' brain-computer interface trial for speech restoration
Paradromics announced Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration approved a clinical study to evaluate whether the company's brain-computer interface is safe and capable of turning brain activity into speech.
The Austin-based startup will implant two people with an updated version of a device that has successfully decoded a person's brain activity up to 62 words per minute, roughly half of normal speaking speed. Safety's the primary endpoint here, but CEO Matt Angle is also eager to see how much speech the device will be able to capture. Boosting the ability to communicate can be a game changer for people with ALS or who have had a stroke or similar disabilities.
The Austin-based company is the latest brain implant startup to receive the FDA's blessing, trailing just behind Elon Musk's Neuralink and Synchron. Read my story if you want Angle's candid thoughts about Neuralink's device.
No comments