Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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Hundreds of Staffers Losing Jobs at the CDC

Layoffs come amid worker anger at response to shooting at HQ in Atlanta

(Newser) - Two stories in the news suggest that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a tense place to work at the moment:
  • Layoffs: The Washington Post reports that between 500 and 600 CDC staffers received permanent layoff notices this week. The agency has not confirmed the number.
  • Letter to
...

AAP Splits With CDC on COVID Vaccine Guidance for Kids

American Academy of Pediatrics still strongly recommends COVID shots for those up to 2 years

(Newser) - ]For the first time in 30 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics is substantially diverging from US government vaccine recommendations, the AP reports. The group's new COVID-19 recommendations—released Tuesday—come amid a tumultuous year for public health, as vaccine skeptics have come into power in the new Trump...

Cheryl Hines: Caroline Kennedy's Criticism Made Me Angry
Cheryl Hines:
Caroline Kennedy's
Criticism Made Me Angry
in case you missed it
Aug 16, 2025 12:57 PM CDT

Cheryl Hines: Caroline Kennedy's Criticism Made Me Angry

And she's none too happy with Caroline's son, either

(Newser) - Cheryl Hines has mystified many with her transition from beloved star of a show about California liberals to friend of President Trump. The actor delves into her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and how she feels about all the controversy now surrounding her in an interview with the Wall ...

Children's Health Report May Disappoint Kennedy

Administration draft goes easy on pesticides, ultra-processed foods

(Newser) - Despite Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vocal opposition to pesticides, a leaked draft of Trump administration plans suggests industry interests may prevail—leaving the use of pesticides in food production largely untouched. According to documents reviewed by Politico , an upcoming Make America Healthy Again Commission report...

Shooter Fired 180 Times at CDC Buildings

Kennedy visits agency's campus in Atlanta

(Newser) - The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing "blast-resistant" windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency. It may take weeks or...

RFK Jr. Pulls $500M in Vaccine Development Funding

HHS announces funding cuts related to mRNA vaccine research

(Newser) - The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, the AP reports. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a statement Tuesday that 22 projects, totaling $500 million, to develop vaccines...

Pope Leo Is Winning the Newsmakers Popularity Contest

Pontiff tops Gallup list of prominent US, world figures, with 57% favorable approval rating

(Newser) - Sorry, Volodymyr—Pope Leo XIV is a bit more popular than you. Gallup has a new survey out listing the favorability ratings for more than a dozen prominent US and world luminaries, and the new pontiff comes in at No. 1, with a 57% favorable rating (11% unfavorable, 31% no...

Top Medical Orgs Booted From CDC's Vaccine Work Groups

AMA, American Academy of Pediatrics among those whose experts have been disinvited

(Newser) - US health officials have told more than a half dozen of the nation's top medical organizations that they'll no longer help establish vaccination recommendations. The government told the organizations on Thursday via email that their experts are being disinvited from the workgroups that have been the backbone of...

Feds Announce 2 Investigations of Duke University

Education Department questions use of race in law journal selection

(Newser) - The US Department of Education has opened an investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal, prompted by allegations that race, color, or national origin may factor into decisions about who joins the law journal. The probe, announced Monday, is rooted in claims that Duke's selection process could...

Feds Crack Down on Organ Removal After 'Horrifying' Finds

Move follows reports of organs taken from people before death was confirmed

(Newser) - The US government is tightening oversight of its organ transplant system after troubling reports that organs were being removed from patients who were not definitively dead . Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that a nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving Kentucky and parts of...

Research Clashes With Claim by Kennedy About Vaccines

Study of 1.2M people sees no link between aluminum in doses and disorders including autism

(Newser) - A major new study has investigated the claim by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others that vaccines administered to protect children from infectious diseases are dangerous—and found no evidence of it. Vaccine critics often cite aluminum salts, a product added to many childhood vaccines to increase their...

HHS Moves to Block Head Start for Illegal Immigrants

Trump administration reclassifies preschool program as a federal public benefit

(Newser) - The Trump administration will restrict immigrants in the country illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. The move is part of a broad effort to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status, reports...

GOP Senator Offers Withering Assessment of Hegseth

Defense secretary seems to be 'out of his depth,' says Thom Tillis

(Newser) - A Republican senator has offered an unusually harsh critique of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though it's a Republican senator who no longer has much to fear about crossing the Trump administration. North Carolina's Thom Tillis, who voted to confirm Hegseth, said the following to CNN anchor Jake...

Medical Groups Sue Kennedy Over Vaccines

Pregnant woman joins the suit, which demands a reversal in COVID policy

(Newser) - Six major medical groups—and a pregnant woman—are taking health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to court, alleging that recent moves to restrict vaccines put public health at risk, reports the Washington Post . In particular, the lawsuit aims to reverse the decision to drop COVID vaccines from the...

Kennedy's Vaccine Panel Backs New RSV Shot

Approval is something of a surprise given the skeptics on the panel

(Newser) - The first vote of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine panel ended up being a surprising one, reports USA Today . The panel, which includes known vaccine critics , gave the green light to a new shot to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Though two members disagreed,...

RFK Jr.'s Overhauled Vaccine Panel Loses a Member

Panel set to begin 2-day meeting on Wednesday

(Newser) - Just as its first meeting under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to begin, a newly restructured federal vaccine advisory panel has lost one of its new members. The New York Times reports one of the eight members Kennedy installed two weeks ago after firing all 17 members of...

Kraft Heinz to Drop Artificial Dyes in US Foods

Move follows government scrutiny and shifting consumer health preferences

(Newser) - Kraft Heinz is pledging to remove all artificial dyes from its US foods by 2027, signaling a major shift as health concerns and government scrutiny put synthetic colors in the spotlight. The company, known for brands like Kraft Mac & Cheese, Heinz ketchup, Jell-O, and Capri-Sun, said it will...

Kennedy's Vaccine Panel Picks Include Vaccine Skeptics

Health secretary names 8 new members to panel he just recently stripped

(Newser) - All those reassuring promises Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made before he was confirmed as President Trump's health secretary appear to have gone up in a puff of smoke, with Kennedy choosing an anti-vaccine activist and other well-known vaccine skeptics to join the CDC's independent vaccine advisory committee, which...

All 17 Members of Panel on Vaccines Are Ousted by RFK Jr.

Move clears way for Trump picks while seeming to reverse a confirmation pledge

(Newser) - Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that he has removed the 17 members of a panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines so that he can install people of his choosing. The move, he said in an oped piece in the Wall Street ...

NIH Staffers Risk Their Careers With Open Letter

Dozens sign name to letter protesting cuts, and hundreds more sign anonymously

(Newser) - More than 300 current and former National Institutes of Health employees have taken the unusual step of publicly protesting deep funding cuts, staff firings, and "policies that undermine the NIH mission." Details:
  • Read the open letter here . It was sent to NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, health secretary
...

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