Talk of the Town
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida is moving to “end all vaccine mandates” in the state, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Richard Besser explains why he and other former directors of the CDC wrote an op-ed criticizing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handling of the CDC and public health.
Nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are speaking out, saying Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is endangering the health of Americans.
Seven former directors and two former acting directors — whose tenures stretch back to the administration of former President Jimmy Carter — published an op-ed in The New York Times on Monday, just days after the ousting of the CDC’s new director Dr. Susan Monarez.
Sources told ABC News that Kennedy and Stefanie Spear, his principal deputy chief of staff, called on Monarez to support changes to COVID vaccine policy and the firings of high-level staff, which Monarez would not commit to.
The directors said Monarez’s removal is the latest in a series of actions that could have a “wide-ranging impact” on “America’s health security.”
One of the co-authors, Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and acting director of the CDC during the administration of former President Barack Obama, said he and his colleagues are stunned at what they’ve seen.
“What we are seeing taking place in the Department of Health and Human Services, and at CDC in particular, is not businesses as usual,” he told ABC News. “There are always changes, different policy priorities when administration changes. But what we’re seeing under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy [Jr.] is something different altogether.”
“He has come into his role as Secretary of Health and Human Services with a strong agenda that is centered on dismantling our vaccine system in America and limiting people’s access to these life-saving, health-preserving interventions,” Besser added.
HHS did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
In the op-ed, the former directors point to several decisions made by Kennedy including the firing of thousands of federal health workers, touting unproven treatments as measles was spreading in the U.S., and canceling $500 million in federally funded mRNA vaccine research.
The directors also referenced Kennedy’s removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee and replacing them with his own hand-selected members, many of whom have shared vaccine-skeptic views.
Besser said the ousting of Monarez, along with the resignation of at least four top leaders, compelled him and his colleagues to speak out.
He told ABC News that their departures leave the U.S. vulnerable to every day health challenges as well as public health threats.
“We can’t predict when the next pandemic will be here, but we know there will be future pandemics,” Besser said. “There will be other infectious threats. There will be other public health challenges, and with this Secretary performing in the way that he is, it puts us all at risk.”
He said he and the co-authors “don’t agree on everything, but we agree that our federal public health system is in major jeopardy. The CDC, which had been looked to as the world’s leading public health institution, is on life support and needs our attention immediately.”
The op-ed called on Congress to oversee HHS, which it has authority to do. It echoes a social media post from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who said the departure of CDC leaders require oversight from the Senate committee he chairs.
The former directors also called on state and local governments to fill funding gaps left behind by some of Kennedy’s actions.
“We represent individuals who served in every administration from Jimmy Carter through Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats, and we were unified in our feeling that what we’re seeing is extremely alarming and that Congress needs to step up and perform its oversight function,” Besser told ABC News. “And so, we’re hoping that our voices will add to some of the other voices that have been calling this out and that Congress will do its part.”
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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expanding its warning about radioactive shrimp, recalling more brands due to possible contamination.
The federal health agency said earlier this week nearly 18,000 bags of frozen Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp and 26,460 packages of cocktail shrimp, both from Seattle-based Aquastar Corp, were recalled because of potential contamination with the radioactive isotope Cesium-137 (Cs-137).
Earlier alerts had warned about contamination among Walmart’s Great Value shrimp and frozen shrimp sold by California-based company Southwind Foods.
The FDA said all of the brands were processed by the Indonesian supplier PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, operating as BMS Foods, and the company has been placed under a full import alert.
PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati was added “to a new import alert for chemical contamination to stop products from this firm from coming into the U.S. until the firm has resolved the conditions that gave rise to the appearance of the violation,” the FDA said in a press release.
The shrimp placed under recall alerts may have been prepared, packed or held in “insanitary conditions” during which they became contaminated with Cs-137, the FDA said.
No products have tested positive for Cs-137 in the U.S. marketplace at this time, and no illnesses have been reported to date, according to the FDA.
Cesium is a soft, flexible, silvery-white metal that becomes liquid near room temperature, but easily bonds with chlorides to create a crystalline powder, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Low-dose exposure to Cs-137, such as in water or food, over a long-term period of time can damage DNA within living cells of the body and increase the risk of cancer, the FDA says.
External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137, according to the EPA, can cause burns, acute radiation sickness and even death.
The recalled Kroger shrimp was sold between July 24 and Aug. 11 in 17 states. Impacted stores include Baker’s, Gerbes, Jay C, Kroger, Mariano’s, Metro Market, Pay Less Supermarkets and Pick ‘n Save.
The recalled shrimp weigh two pounds and are packaged in clear plastic bags with has a white label and green stripes on top of each bag. The affected codes include:
• UPC 011110626196, Lot code 10662 5139, Best Before 11/19/2027
• UPC 011110626196, Lot code 10662 5140, Best Before 11/20/2027
The recalled cocktail shrimp was sold only in Walmart stores in 27 states between July 31 and Aug. 16.
“The product was sold in refrigerated condition and has a 12-day shelf life and with various Best if Use By dates,” the FDA release read. “The affected Cocktail Shrimp 6oz is packaged in a clear plastic tray and has a red and white label.”
The recalled products contain the code UPC 19434612191 and the Lot Codes 10662 5106, 10662 5107, 10662 5124 and 10662 5125 at the bottom of the plastic tray.
The FDA warned consumers who have purchased affected shrimp not to consume the products and to dispose of them.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee voted on Thursday to recommend infants receive a newer monoclonal antibody shot for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 5-2 to recommend clesrovimab, made by Merck, for infants 8 months and younger who are not protected by a maternal vaccine.
In a second vote, the committee voted unanimously to update the resolution for the federal Vaccines for Children program to include details about the newly approved antibody shot. About half of all U.S. children are eligible for free or low-cost vaccines.
Usually, the CDC director signs off on the votes for final recommendation but, because there is currently no CDC director, the final decision will go to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
If signed off by Kennedy, clesrovimab will made available along with another RSV shot made by Sanofi/AstraZeneca.
This marks the first vote of the panel since Kennedy dismissed the entire panel and appointed his own hand-selected members.
Currently, RSV vaccines are recommended for pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy to pass on protection to a fetus, which should last throughout their first RSV season.
For babies 8 months and younger born to mothers who did not receive a maternal RSV vaccine, monoclonal antibody shots are available.
Monoclonal antibodies are proteins manufactured in a lab and mimic the antibodies the body naturally creates when fighting an infection. They do not activate the immune system as would occur with vaccination. The shot is also recommended for a small group of children from 8 months old through 19 months old who are at increased risk for severe RSV.
During the first day of the meeting, on Wednesday, Dr. Georgina Peacock, director of the Immunization Services Division in the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), shared CDC data showing 57% of infants born between April 2024 and March 2025 were protected from RSV by maternal vaccination or receipt of nirsevimab, the shot made by Sanofi/AstraZeneca.
Dr. Cody Meissner, one of the new ACIP members, described the vaccine and antibody data, showing its real-world impacts as a “truly spectacular accomplishment.”
“People should understand this is a truly spectacular accomplishment and will have enormous impact on public health,” he said.
Another ACIP member, Retsef Levi, expressed some skepticism, saying he wanted to see more data on how efficacy for the maternal vaccine changes over time, adding that RSV is a “tricky” virus that “fools interventions in unexpected ways.”
In response, Dr. Adam MacNeil of the NCRID said vaccine efficacy does wane over time, but the maternal RSV vaccine protects newborns and infants when they’re at their most vulnerable, before they develop more robust immune systems.
The votes comes after the group announced on Wednesday it would review the current childhood immunization schedule.
Martin Kulldorff, the ACIP’s new chair, said two new work groups would be established, one focusing on the cumulative effects of children and adolescents receiving all recommended vaccines on the schedule and another reviewing vaccines that haven’t been examined for more than seven years.
The latter group may discuss whether the hepatitis B vaccine is necessary at birth before a baby leaves the hospital, according to Kulldorff.
“The number of vaccines that our children and adolescents receive today exceeds what children in most other developed nations receive and what most of us in this room received when we were children,” Kulldorff said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics put out a video on Wednesday, saying immunization policy through ACIP is “no longer a credible process” and that it will continue to publish its own vaccine recommendations for children.
In the morning, CDC staff presented data on COVID-19 vaccines, showing safety and efficacy as well as a reduction in hospitalizations and deaths.
For the 2024-25 updated COVID vaccine against emergency department and urgent care encounters, the CDC found 79% effectiveness for children between nine months and 4 years old, 57% effectiveness among children between five and 17 years old and 34% effectiveness for those aged 18 and older.
Kulldorff asked where the data shows COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness from placebo-controlled trials. Dr. Adam MacNeil, from the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), said the CDC’s evaluation of effectiveness came from real-world data.
“Randomized clinical control trials are not necessarily comparable to what we’re currently seeing with the vaccine,” MacNeil said. “Where we’re trying to now monitor is the real-world impacts of these vaccines as opposed to clinical trial data, which was certainly extensively documented.”
The ACIP members also discussed questions about potential safety signals surrounding the COVID vaccine, with the CDC determining that myocarditis and pericarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle and the sac around the heart, respectively — are still risks, but no other risks have been found.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
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