I'm grateful to the U of MN for starting the vaccine project. I've followed CIDRAP there for a long time to help me give good advice to my patients who were distrustful of the CDC. I think CIDRAP is a great resource and has now become incredibly more important with the current DHHS craziness.
There's a special place in hell reserved for the kinds of people who cut off USAID programs knowing of the misery and death that will shortly ensue, who cut off the Medicaid that keeps senior care facilities (like the one my 98 yr old father-in-law, WWII vet is in) open, and who deny safe, effective and needed vaccines to the most vulnerable (including in such facilities) purely for political points and/or to finance tax breaks for effin' billionaires.
HHS has responded to "pushback"--I'd appreciate any suggestions for how to mount effective pushback against the FDA/Markery's effective dismantling of Covid shots.
Let’s see if I’ve got this: a bunch of non-scientific goons are going to jam up the works while they re-evaluate the safety of lifesaving COVID vaccines? What could possibly go wrong? I am grateful for the U of MN group, and the knowledge that there will be an additional source for accurate information.
Please read Inside Medicine interview with Markary--who said that he is "following the science" and requiring Novavax to do a clinical trial. He also said he' not anti-vaccine, but STAT news reports some troubling comments about his support for vaccines.
STAT news reported today that Markary very possibly doesn't intend to approve updated mRNA covid shots for the fall— with this roadblock to Novavax approval how does he ignore the science that there have been at least 13,000 covid deaths in 2025?
Additionally, he's not expressing strong support for MMR vaccine.
He's allowed political appointees to be involved with ACIP
"It’s unclear whether the FDA will hold a vaccine advisory committee meeting on Covid-19 strains, an agency official who was not authorized to speak publicly told STAT, as HHS has not given the go-ahead."
may i make a suggestion..can you make a donation area for others who would like to support your work beyond subscribing. also an option to make it anonymous. what you do is so important as it seems correct medical information is becoming more difficult to find
I completely agree! There have been good studies on the efficacy of the Covid vaccines in the real world and to deny them to higher risk people or people who want them would be out of sync with public health in rest of the world.
FDA's VRBPAC advisors would normally have their meeting around now to consider which variant to target in the fall. CDC's ACIP would then follow up with recommendations on the vaccination schedule. ACIP has a June meeting scheduled, but Makary could gum up the process by going without VRBPAC input and there might not be any 2025-2026 COVID vaccines.
Recall that the March VRBPAC meeting to select the fall flu strain targets was canceled. In that case, FDA ended up going with the WHO recommendation.
CNN reports an unnamed source revealing that VRBPAC is convening May 22, so there's possible movement on fall vaccines. However, there's no notice on the FDA calendar as of this posting, and an unnamed source previously suggested the agency might not be considering updated shots.
In addition, multiple reports now point to a revamping of how current and "new" vaccines will be authorized or licensed that could include additional clinical trials to test updated versions. This would go beyond the holdup of the license for Novavax and could delay the timely rollout of seasonal shots. More on Monday's https://covidandvaccineupdate.substack.com/.
Where on CIDRAP did you get it? I went to their website and couldn't find it. I would like very much to see it because I have so little confidence in the data now available from the CDC, lagged info from the NVSS.
Regarding the Vaccine Integrity Project - that's great news. As to its lack of formal authority - it can have formal authority if we want it to! Keep in mind that insurance is regulated at the state level, thanks to the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Thus, any state legislature that wishes to could write laws requiring health plans to cover any vaccine recommended by WHO, ACIP or VIP.
Interstate compacts are also an option. The Supreme Court case Virginia v Tennessee specifically cites disease control as an area where states do not require congressional approval for interstate compacts.
The sooner we realize that nobody's coming to save us, the sooner we get off our butts and work with what we have.
In the pandemic, the Western States Pact (CA, OR, WA, CO, NV) was formed to handle reopening public life based on data and science, not politics. There was also a consortium in the Northeast but I can't remember the states (I'm from the West).
Although this is not a forum on law or the Constitution, in addition to the cited VA v. TN, the Tenth Amendment - remember the Bill of Rights? - gave the states not only shared power with the feds but also any other powers not stated for the feds in the Constitution. Public health certainly qualifies.
Keep in mind that things like the Childhood Vaccines Schedule, although fashioned by the federal CDC, are just serving suggestions that are up to local governments to dish out or not.
(The Bill of Rights was passed in 1791 and predates the recently resurrected Alien Enemies Act of 1798 brought to you by the same enemies of vaccines.)
Kennedy et al. are also considering pulling the COVID jabs from the recommended childhood vaccine schedule despite the need. Check out https://covidandvaccineupdate.substack.com/p/serious-covid-persists-kids-covid. Kennedy also claims single-antigen vaccines for respiratory diseases don't work, which would include Novavax, Pfizer, and Moderna for COVID and one of the flu vaccines, just to name a few. And while he's at it, MMR effectiveness for measles is apparently not lifelong but wanes and that's why measles keeps popping up. This is our public health leadership.
I am no fan of RFK, but the addition of the Covid vaccines to the childhoods schedule put some people off from vaccinating all together. I worry far more about polio and measles outbreaks, and if removing it helps regain trust in public health, I am all for that. In an ideal world, none of this would be an issue. Unfortunately, we are living in a dystopian nightmares.
Although the uptake of COVID vaccines by kids, i.e., their parents, is very low, those who choose to get the shots should have easy access without great expense. Besides, those who don't trust vaccines or the recommendations, especially the childhood schedule, are more likely to follow Kennedy's claims on MMR and other vaccines. Removing the COVID shots from the schedule won't regain/gain their trust.
I work in early childhood education, and I say factually, in my area, families stopped vaccinating because of the addition. I think those families, previous vaccinators, are a whole different category than the anti vaxxers who did not and will not vaccinate.
I do agree with you that they should be accessible to those who want them.
Thanks for the clarification. So they didn't just not take the COVID shots, but also MMR, etc.? What was the reasoning? The schedule is guidance for parents and pediatricians. It's not a mandate.
Yes, they no longer believe their providers to be trustworthy. Absolutely the schedule is guidance. But, I saw families switch their care to naturopaths and chiropractors. It’s wild.
Regarding the covid vaccines… If I recall correctly there was or is a vocal sliver of people claiming these vaccines can cause all sorts of unholy anomalies in the universal order.
This would be the perfect audience for Booby Kennedy to pick up some more followers.
So if we in the US can't get an updated shot or any shot for that matter this fall, then those of us who can afford to and I count the wife and I in this basket, we'll head to Canada to get this necessary shot. The US is lurching in the wrong direction. The whole MAGA thing is not working well.
How would you get the shot in Canada? Will physicians just administer it to anybody who asks - even out of country non prior patients? And will the national health care system in Canada present obstacles to your getting it? I'd appreciate any guidance you can supply because my wife and I would do the same thing if it's possible. My early "research" suggested that it might not be easy to manage.
Based on my experience when visiting Vancouver, I would attempt to obtain the shot at a local pharmacy. If this were not possible I'd see about using my travel health insurance at a local equivalent of an urgent care.
Regardless I would make the effort to obtain the covid shot and not let Bobby Kennedy screw with my health.
I would love to be specific. However this was fall 2016 and I was about 5 months out from having surgery for cancer (which ultimately took me 8 months post surgery to recover from). The wife and I took a trip to Vancouver and Whistler. I had an issue with some unexpected minor bleeding. Maybe I had to get some sort of med refill (which in Canada might have been OTC). That time period is now a little fuzzy. IF need be I'm confident the Canadians will accommodate us.
Canadian pharmacists will not accept American health insurance, so I'd be paying out of pocket. I'm old enough that I need 2 covid shots a year plus the flu vaccine - that comes to three Canadian trips a year. There's the expense of the trips, plus I'd need to hire a dog sitter. No telling how many US residents would travel to Canada for vaccines, I hope Canadian pharmacists could accommodate us. But I would expect that they would put their own citizens first. Also considering the number of vaccinated people in the US is declining, we'd lose herd immunity. I'd likely terminate my gym membership. Even if I managed to get my shots, if I'm surrounded by unvaccinated people huffing and puffing I would not feel safe exercising there
I appreciate your health concerns. The wife and I are in our 70s and share your concerns. I have an immune risk – Hyper IgE – so the wife and I do still take precautions that we developed during the worst of covid.
As for payment for any treatment such as vaccines, I do know providers in other countries do not take our US medicare. We do purchase Blue Cross travel health insurance when we travel. I doubt a common covid and flu vaccine is covered. We'd face that cost issue if and when this might happen. Based on Booby Kennedy's recent actions, we all are likely to face vaccine availability much sooner than we want. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts. I'm very concerned about this and I don't hear many people, even though my friends are well informed, I thinking ahead to how bad it could get . I wonder if vaccines manufactured overseas can legally be marketed in the US. If so, that is a ray of hope. But Kennedy apparently is fond of suing pharmaceutical companies. Given how extremely anti-science - and just overall nutty - Kennedy is, I wouldn't put it past him to try to make all vaccines in the US illegal
Currently tariffs have not been implemented on pharmaceuticals. I am not sure if pharmaceuticals are exempt from the 10% base tariff now imposed.
All this will change when our Dear Leader does go through with his planned implementation of tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals.
Note that about 90% of generic drugs are manufactured in China and India. In some cases tariffs will cause these drugs to cost more than their name brand counterpart (if the counterpart has not been discontinued).
Most (all?) Medicare Advantage drug plans insist that users receive generic meds when available. Over 50% of Medicare recipients use Medicare Advantage. Med Advantage insurers will NOT cover the cost of brand drugs when a generic is available. All this could create chaos for Medicare Advantage clients very soon.
What happened to the measles outbreak in Ohio? Did it get contained? Weren't there like 25 cases in your last newsletter? I'm one state away, and KY just got another confirmed dose. I was worried it would spread here, but maybe not?
If the worst happens and there are simply no Covid vaccines for fall (or no updated ones, or no Novavax), where do we look to see where else we can obtain them? Will the companies tell us? (Will vaccine tourism even be possible? If other countries are buying numbers to meet their own citizens' needs, surely they will not welcome waves of desperate Americans waving fists of cash, begging for vaccines, right?)
I know most people will not have the luxury of traveling to get vaccinated. But it would be nice to know where we might be able to go. I would do anything to make sure the elderly members of our family can be protected. (Are US doctors allowed to order medications from abroad?)
I wonder if some organization could bail us out, and have a ship just over the line into international waters, offering off-shore vaccinations.
I just posed basically the same question. I'm hoping to hear from Katelyn, tho it's likely that we just don't know yet. You raise a good point - if neighbors like Canada just have enough of the vaccines for their own citizens, can people from the US even obtain them if we travel there?
Though it was not good news for those of us who value Covid-19 vaccines, thank you very much for your insights into what's going on with those vaccines. Very concerning, especially in light of who's in charge at HHS.
While at a medical office, I was told that there is a Texas cardiologist who advises his patients to avoid Covid vaccines due to a correlation between these new vaccines and the development of heart disease in patients of all ages. I have Long Covid but no heart disease. Even so, I am questioning whether or not I should continue to receive Covid boosters. Is there any evidence that the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines aggravate Long Covid?
So glad groups are mobilizing to stay ahead of the confusion and caos.
I continue to admire you more than I can say. And I remember Winston Churchill's, "If you've going through hell, keep going."
I'm grateful to the U of MN for starting the vaccine project. I've followed CIDRAP there for a long time to help me give good advice to my patients who were distrustful of the CDC. I think CIDRAP is a great resource and has now become incredibly more important with the current DHHS craziness.
There's a special place in hell reserved for the kinds of people who cut off USAID programs knowing of the misery and death that will shortly ensue, who cut off the Medicaid that keeps senior care facilities (like the one my 98 yr old father-in-law, WWII vet is in) open, and who deny safe, effective and needed vaccines to the most vulnerable (including in such facilities) purely for political points and/or to finance tax breaks for effin' billionaires.
HHS has responded to "pushback"--I'd appreciate any suggestions for how to mount effective pushback against the FDA/Markery's effective dismantling of Covid shots.
Let’s see if I’ve got this: a bunch of non-scientific goons are going to jam up the works while they re-evaluate the safety of lifesaving COVID vaccines? What could possibly go wrong? I am grateful for the U of MN group, and the knowledge that there will be an additional source for accurate information.
Yet to be known: how this information could/would/might/will translate into actual shots in arms.
Please read Inside Medicine interview with Markary--who said that he is "following the science" and requiring Novavax to do a clinical trial. He also said he' not anti-vaccine, but STAT news reports some troubling comments about his support for vaccines.
STAT news reported today that Markary very possibly doesn't intend to approve updated mRNA covid shots for the fall— with this roadblock to Novavax approval how does he ignore the science that there have been at least 13,000 covid deaths in 2025?
Additionally, he's not expressing strong support for MMR vaccine.
He's allowed political appointees to be involved with ACIP
"It’s unclear whether the FDA will hold a vaccine advisory committee meeting on Covid-19 strains, an agency official who was not authorized to speak publicly told STAT, as HHS has not given the go-ahead."
https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/29/fda-vaccine-criticism-seeping-into-official-policy-rfk-jr-marty-makary/
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-appears-slow-walking-vaccine-approvals-rcna202596
I read it :) He did a nice job sticking to political talking points. There is still a ton of confusion that I think we deserve answers to
may i make a suggestion..can you make a donation area for others who would like to support your work beyond subscribing. also an option to make it anonymous. what you do is so important as it seems correct medical information is becoming more difficult to find
I completely agree! There have been good studies on the efficacy of the Covid vaccines in the real world and to deny them to higher risk people or people who want them would be out of sync with public health in rest of the world.
Will we get them though?
FDA's VRBPAC advisors would normally have their meeting around now to consider which variant to target in the fall. CDC's ACIP would then follow up with recommendations on the vaccination schedule. ACIP has a June meeting scheduled, but Makary could gum up the process by going without VRBPAC input and there might not be any 2025-2026 COVID vaccines.
Recall that the March VRBPAC meeting to select the fall flu strain targets was canceled. In that case, FDA ended up going with the WHO recommendation.
Even if we'll still have access to COVID vaccines in the fall, a target change might not be critical. Depending on what drives a summer surge, it looks like we're stuck at the JN.1 group of Omicron subvariants (https://covidandvaccineupdate.substack.com/p/omicron-wanes-with-flu-and-measles).
CNN reports an unnamed source revealing that VRBPAC is convening May 22, so there's possible movement on fall vaccines. However, there's no notice on the FDA calendar as of this posting, and an unnamed source previously suggested the agency might not be considering updated shots.
In addition, multiple reports now point to a revamping of how current and "new" vaccines will be authorized or licensed that could include additional clinical trials to test updated versions. This would go beyond the holdup of the license for Novavax and could delay the timely rollout of seasonal shots. More on Monday's https://covidandvaccineupdate.substack.com/.
In 2025? Did you mean 2024? We've been averaging about 200 deaths a week.
Yes, 2025--there was a blip over the winter and now it's around 400/week. Get my information from CIDRAP
Where on CIDRAP did you get it? I went to their website and couldn't find it. I would like very much to see it because I have so little confidence in the data now available from the CDC, lagged info from the NVSS.
Regarding the Vaccine Integrity Project - that's great news. As to its lack of formal authority - it can have formal authority if we want it to! Keep in mind that insurance is regulated at the state level, thanks to the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Thus, any state legislature that wishes to could write laws requiring health plans to cover any vaccine recommended by WHO, ACIP or VIP.
Interstate compacts are also an option. The Supreme Court case Virginia v Tennessee specifically cites disease control as an area where states do not require congressional approval for interstate compacts.
The sooner we realize that nobody's coming to save us, the sooner we get off our butts and work with what we have.
In the pandemic, the Western States Pact (CA, OR, WA, CO, NV) was formed to handle reopening public life based on data and science, not politics. There was also a consortium in the Northeast but I can't remember the states (I'm from the West).
Although this is not a forum on law or the Constitution, in addition to the cited VA v. TN, the Tenth Amendment - remember the Bill of Rights? - gave the states not only shared power with the feds but also any other powers not stated for the feds in the Constitution. Public health certainly qualifies.
Keep in mind that things like the Childhood Vaccines Schedule, although fashioned by the federal CDC, are just serving suggestions that are up to local governments to dish out or not.
(The Bill of Rights was passed in 1791 and predates the recently resurrected Alien Enemies Act of 1798 brought to you by the same enemies of vaccines.)
Right, you could argue that the Tenth Amendment forces a reconsideration of the Compacts Clause
Kennedy et al. are also considering pulling the COVID jabs from the recommended childhood vaccine schedule despite the need. Check out https://covidandvaccineupdate.substack.com/p/serious-covid-persists-kids-covid. Kennedy also claims single-antigen vaccines for respiratory diseases don't work, which would include Novavax, Pfizer, and Moderna for COVID and one of the flu vaccines, just to name a few. And while he's at it, MMR effectiveness for measles is apparently not lifelong but wanes and that's why measles keeps popping up. This is our public health leadership.
I am no fan of RFK, but the addition of the Covid vaccines to the childhoods schedule put some people off from vaccinating all together. I worry far more about polio and measles outbreaks, and if removing it helps regain trust in public health, I am all for that. In an ideal world, none of this would be an issue. Unfortunately, we are living in a dystopian nightmares.
Although the uptake of COVID vaccines by kids, i.e., their parents, is very low, those who choose to get the shots should have easy access without great expense. Besides, those who don't trust vaccines or the recommendations, especially the childhood schedule, are more likely to follow Kennedy's claims on MMR and other vaccines. Removing the COVID shots from the schedule won't regain/gain their trust.
I work in early childhood education, and I say factually, in my area, families stopped vaccinating because of the addition. I think those families, previous vaccinators, are a whole different category than the anti vaxxers who did not and will not vaccinate.
I do agree with you that they should be accessible to those who want them.
Thanks for the clarification. So they didn't just not take the COVID shots, but also MMR, etc.? What was the reasoning? The schedule is guidance for parents and pediatricians. It's not a mandate.
Yes, they no longer believe their providers to be trustworthy. Absolutely the schedule is guidance. But, I saw families switch their care to naturopaths and chiropractors. It’s wild.
(First time commenter)
So- with the writing on the wall, where else is Novavax approved for dispensing? Canada or Mexico?
Nope. Canada couldn't meet the minimum-order to buy it. As in the US, uptake of Novavax is low. It's not authorized in Mexico.
Regarding the covid vaccines… If I recall correctly there was or is a vocal sliver of people claiming these vaccines can cause all sorts of unholy anomalies in the universal order.
This would be the perfect audience for Booby Kennedy to pick up some more followers.
So if we in the US can't get an updated shot or any shot for that matter this fall, then those of us who can afford to and I count the wife and I in this basket, we'll head to Canada to get this necessary shot. The US is lurching in the wrong direction. The whole MAGA thing is not working well.
How would you get the shot in Canada? Will physicians just administer it to anybody who asks - even out of country non prior patients? And will the national health care system in Canada present obstacles to your getting it? I'd appreciate any guidance you can supply because my wife and I would do the same thing if it's possible. My early "research" suggested that it might not be easy to manage.
Based on my experience when visiting Vancouver, I would attempt to obtain the shot at a local pharmacy. If this were not possible I'd see about using my travel health insurance at a local equivalent of an urgent care.
Regardless I would make the effort to obtain the covid shot and not let Bobby Kennedy screw with my health.
I'm certainly in your camp. Did you have any success with the local pharmacy in getting what you needed? Was it a shot or something else?
I would love to be specific. However this was fall 2016 and I was about 5 months out from having surgery for cancer (which ultimately took me 8 months post surgery to recover from). The wife and I took a trip to Vancouver and Whistler. I had an issue with some unexpected minor bleeding. Maybe I had to get some sort of med refill (which in Canada might have been OTC). That time period is now a little fuzzy. IF need be I'm confident the Canadians will accommodate us.
Canadian pharmacists will not accept American health insurance, so I'd be paying out of pocket. I'm old enough that I need 2 covid shots a year plus the flu vaccine - that comes to three Canadian trips a year. There's the expense of the trips, plus I'd need to hire a dog sitter. No telling how many US residents would travel to Canada for vaccines, I hope Canadian pharmacists could accommodate us. But I would expect that they would put their own citizens first. Also considering the number of vaccinated people in the US is declining, we'd lose herd immunity. I'd likely terminate my gym membership. Even if I managed to get my shots, if I'm surrounded by unvaccinated people huffing and puffing I would not feel safe exercising there
I appreciate your health concerns. The wife and I are in our 70s and share your concerns. I have an immune risk – Hyper IgE – so the wife and I do still take precautions that we developed during the worst of covid.
As for payment for any treatment such as vaccines, I do know providers in other countries do not take our US medicare. We do purchase Blue Cross travel health insurance when we travel. I doubt a common covid and flu vaccine is covered. We'd face that cost issue if and when this might happen. Based on Booby Kennedy's recent actions, we all are likely to face vaccine availability much sooner than we want. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts. I'm very concerned about this and I don't hear many people, even though my friends are well informed, I thinking ahead to how bad it could get . I wonder if vaccines manufactured overseas can legally be marketed in the US. If so, that is a ray of hope. But Kennedy apparently is fond of suing pharmaceutical companies. Given how extremely anti-science - and just overall nutty - Kennedy is, I wouldn't put it past him to try to make all vaccines in the US illegal
Currently tariffs have not been implemented on pharmaceuticals. I am not sure if pharmaceuticals are exempt from the 10% base tariff now imposed.
All this will change when our Dear Leader does go through with his planned implementation of tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals.
Note that about 90% of generic drugs are manufactured in China and India. In some cases tariffs will cause these drugs to cost more than their name brand counterpart (if the counterpart has not been discontinued).
Most (all?) Medicare Advantage drug plans insist that users receive generic meds when available. Over 50% of Medicare recipients use Medicare Advantage. Med Advantage insurers will NOT cover the cost of brand drugs when a generic is available. All this could create chaos for Medicare Advantage clients very soon.
...Because of the risk of a breakthrough infection, as we know being vaccinated is not 100%
What happened to the measles outbreak in Ohio? Did it get contained? Weren't there like 25 cases in your last newsletter? I'm one state away, and KY just got another confirmed dose. I was worried it would spread here, but maybe not?
If the worst happens and there are simply no Covid vaccines for fall (or no updated ones, or no Novavax), where do we look to see where else we can obtain them? Will the companies tell us? (Will vaccine tourism even be possible? If other countries are buying numbers to meet their own citizens' needs, surely they will not welcome waves of desperate Americans waving fists of cash, begging for vaccines, right?)
I know most people will not have the luxury of traveling to get vaccinated. But it would be nice to know where we might be able to go. I would do anything to make sure the elderly members of our family can be protected. (Are US doctors allowed to order medications from abroad?)
I wonder if some organization could bail us out, and have a ship just over the line into international waters, offering off-shore vaccinations.
I just posed basically the same question. I'm hoping to hear from Katelyn, tho it's likely that we just don't know yet. You raise a good point - if neighbors like Canada just have enough of the vaccines for their own citizens, can people from the US even obtain them if we travel there?
Thank you for continuing to keep this community up to date on these topics. I remain grateful for the information you share.
Though it was not good news for those of us who value Covid-19 vaccines, thank you very much for your insights into what's going on with those vaccines. Very concerning, especially in light of who's in charge at HHS.
Thank you for the clarity on all these issues.
While at a medical office, I was told that there is a Texas cardiologist who advises his patients to avoid Covid vaccines due to a correlation between these new vaccines and the development of heart disease in patients of all ages. I have Long Covid but no heart disease. Even so, I am questioning whether or not I should continue to receive Covid boosters. Is there any evidence that the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines aggravate Long Covid?