RFK Jr announces new panel of vaccine advisers after firing entire previous team

Robert Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, named new members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on Wednesday after abruptly firing all 17 sitting members of the independent panel of experts, according to a post on X.
The eight new members of the advisory committee for immunization practices are: Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross.
'All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' Kennedy said in a post on X. The panel is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Kennedy said the new members are committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has alleged that the prior panel members, many of whom were appointed by former President Joe Biden, had conflicts of interest, without providing evidence of specific members' conflicts, and said the move was necessary 'to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science'.
Numerous physician groups have expressed concern and suspicion over Kennedy's unprecedented removal of all the panel's prior members.
The American Medical Association, the nation's largest physician group, has called for a Senate investigation into their dismissal, and sent Kennedy a letter calling for an immediate reversal of the changes.

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The Independent

33 minutes ago

• The Independent

Has Iran actually tried to kill Trump? Here's what we know

Days after it was reported that Donald Trump rejected Israel's plot to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the president publicly announced that the United States knows his location and is holding off killing him 'for now.' Israeli officials, meanwhile, have openly demanded his death. This week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Khamenei 'can no longer be allowed to exist.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, turning to Fox News over the weekend to make the case for the United States to join a war with Iran, said Khamenei sees the president as 'public enemy number one.' Israel has sought to justify intervention using allegations of Trump's assassination threats as leverage, while the United States has faced years of blowback in the wake of Middle East wars and the 2020 killing of a top Iranian general. During his first administration in 2020, Trump ordered a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force with Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, after he had survived several assassination attempts from western, Israeli and Arab states over the past two decades. The strike, which was planned over several months, ignited fierce blowback across the region, denounced by Iran's foreign minister at the time as an act of international terrorism. By 2024, U.S. intelligence officials had collected evidence they believe shows Tehran was seeking ways to kill then-candidate Trump, according to Politico. In September, Trump claimed there were 'big threats on my life by Iran.' Neither of the two assassination attempts against then-candidate Trump in the summer of 2024 have been linked to Iran. One month earlier, a Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran was accused of seeking to carry out a murder-for-hire plot targeting U.S. government officials, according to federal prosecutors. Asif Raza Merchant was accused of joining a complex plot to carry out assassinations last year, including trying to hire hit men who were undercover officers, according to an indictment. In November, a fugitive Iranian government operative was accused of hiring a pair of New Yorkers he met in prison to carry out an assassination plot against a critic of the regime. He allegedly admitted to FBI agents that he'd also been tasked with finding a hit squad to kill then-President-elect Trump. Farhad Shakeri claimed he was asked by regime officials to 'put aside his other efforts... and focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating' Trump, according to a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court. In February, Trump, who campaigned against U.S. involvement in foreign wars, said Iran would be 'obliterated' if he was assassinated by state actors. 'That would be a terrible thing for them to do,' he told reporters. 'Not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I've left instructions: if they do it, they get obliterated. There won't be anything left.' Iran has denied ever targeting the president. 'A new scenario is fabricated,' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X following accusations against Shakeri. 'The American people have made their decision. And Iran respects their right to elect the president of their choice. The path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect,' Araghchi wrote. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the allegations were part of a 'repulsive' plot by Israel to 'complicate matters between America and Iran.' In January, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed that Iran 'never attempted' to kill Trump, 'and we never will.' 'This is another one of those schemes that Israel and other countries are designing to promote Iranophobia,' Pezeshkian told NBC News. 'Iran has never attempted to, nor does it plan to assassinate anyone. At least as far as I know.' Asked whether there have been any plots against the president under Iran, he insisted there have been 'none whatsoever.' On June 15, Netanyahu asked Fox News host Bret Baier whether 'these people who chant 'death to America'' and 'tried to assassinate President Trump twice' should 'have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to your cities.' Baier then pressed Netanyahu about his claim that Iran launched two assassination attempts. 'Through proxies, yes.' he said. 'Through, through their intel, yes, they want to kill him,' he added. 'He's enemy number one.' Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has emerged as a prominent voice across right-wing media against the United States joining Israel's war, told Texas Senator Ted Cruz that the United States would be bombing Tehran if those assassination allegations were credible. 'We should attack Iran immediately if that's true,' he said. Cruz insisted that 'nobody disputes' Iran is trying to kill the president, calling it an 'objective fact' following his interview with Carlson. On Thursday, Trump said he plans to decide on whether to order U.S. warplanes to strike Iranian nuclear facilities within the next two weeks, depending on whether Tehran engages in talks over ending their nuclear weapons program. In a statement relayed through White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump said: 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.' The president's statement followed a week of escalating strikes between Israel and Iran. More than 600 Iranians and at least two dozen Iranians have been killed, according to officials.

Daily Mail​

40 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE John Fetterman slams 'twisted martyr' Luigi Mangione after he brags about his $1M legal fund

Outspoken Senator John Fetterman has blasted accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione and his legion of supporters who have now handed their 'folk hero assassin' an astonishing $1million for his defense. Mangione revealed the staggering amount in a self-reflective list of 27 things he's 'grateful for' to mark his birthday of the same number inside the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Fetterman, a long-standing critic of the Mangione support cult, told exclusively in a reaction to the figure: 'Spoiler… to those who exalt, donate and defend their twist martyr, that cowardly a**hole will die in prison.' Mangione was arrested in Fetterman's home state Pennsylvania after five days on the run following the shooting death of healthcare boss Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street. The senator is one of many who believe Mangione's list was widely circulated to his army of devotees – who view him as a romanticized folk hero for his alleged slaying of the UnitedHealthcare CEO on December 4, 2024 – as a way to garner sympathy as the legal clock ticks. Millionaire Mangione references his large bounty in item 13 on his list of the '27 things I am grateful for'. It reads: 'The some 30,000 individuals around the globe who have come together to donate over $1,000,000 to my legal fund, enabling me to retain a world class defense team across three concurrent prosecutions.' Mangione allegedly shot Thompson in the back on a Manhattan sidewalk as he arrived for an investors meeting. The now 27-year-old was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after an anonymous 911 call describing a 'suspicious man' resembling the suspect. According to a manifesto on him when seized, he was critical of the state of healthcare in the United States. The alleged killer, who was born into a wealthy and prominent family in Baltimore, Maryland, painted a rough canvas of his daily 'birdcage' incarceration in the 27-point list which also appears to revel in his 'celebrity' status. He mailed it out from the jail on June 6. Mangione, who is pleading not guilty to federal and state murder charges, gushes surprising praise toward staff at the jail, currently also housing rap mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs during his sex-trafficking trial. He also gets political, dubbing America as 'sick' and praising both conservatives and liberals alike while calling free speech 'the basis of our way of life'. Mangione additionally reveals his supporters are deluging him with their own stories of everyday travails and adversity in an effort to boost him as he awaits a December 5 hearing to set his federal trial date. It appears money for goodies inside is not a problem, with him revealing he's being bombarded with top-ups for his commissary account to buy essentials and treats – and disclosing what he likes to eat. But Mangione's first thoughts are reserved for those closest to him. Leading his list of gratitude is a heartfelt nod to his inner circle: 'My friends, for being there when I needed it most,' he writes in thought number one. He is grateful for his family, yet curtly, and confusingly, considering his appeals for sympathy – informing his followers 'my personal life is none of your business!' And he praises 'the many talented and generous individuals who – if not for my current predicament – I would never have crossed paths with'. The accused assassin, who has a cushy job in jail cleaning showers, claims he suffers Groundhog Day symptoms as a result of others' kindness. Reasons to be grateful number four says: 'Letters. I spend each day between the same four walls of my unit, where I receive both holiday cards sent in December and birthday cards sent between March and May, creating a bizarre and disorienting Groundhog Day scenario where every day is both Christmas and my May 6th birthday. 'Nonetheless, I am incredibly grateful. The monotony of my physical environment is offset by the variety and richness of the lives I experience through letters: multi-page life stories, retellings of workplace conversations, stream of consciousness journal entries. 'Admissions of greatest fears, eager recaps of recent triumphs, mothers reliving senseless tragedies. Soulful creations, generous offers, advice.' Aside from his defense fund, he is also receiving money to make life easier inside the federal lock-up. Item 17 reads: 'Everyone who has donated to my commissary account, whose contributions have funded a tablet, songs, stamps, hygiene items, bbq sauce, Goya sazon, peanut butter and lot of tuna packets.' His tastes inside also extend to 'Chicken Thursdays and Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce'. Aside from food, the University of Pennsylvania alumni admitted he cannot wade through all the 'countless books I've been sent' but he's 'distributed these books to my grateful inmates'. 'While I've never read the vast majority of them, I've loved facilitating this collective practice in tsundoko', he continues, referring to a Japanese word meaning acquiring books but letting them pile up without reading them. Reason number 17 was a direct shout out to his fans whose donations to his prison commissary account allowed him to purchase Barbeque sauce, Sazon seasoning packets and even a tablet He also gives a fascinating insight into his own taste in literature. In a nod to the shadow of the charges facing him, he gives a thumbs up to two dystopian works involving rebellion against the system. 'My favorites include Ayn Rand's Anthem, Patrick Bet-David's Your Next Five Moves and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451,' he writes. Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella published in 1938 with the plot taking place at an unspecified future date when mankind is entering an age where individuality is eliminated. In it, a young man known as Equality 7-2521 rebels by doing secret scientific research. Fahrenheit 451 is another dark work, this time depicting an America where books are outlawed. It follows a man who rebels against his role as a fireman who burns books, quits his job and commits to preserving literature. Meanwhile, Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy is a complete shift of gears, charting strategies for life and business – stating that the first move is understanding your own strengths and weaknesses. Mangione is grateful for 'being born in America', yet he adds: 'She is haunted by her past, she is sick, she is plagued by inner turmoil – such is her nature as a nation of individuals. 'She is young, in midst of an adolescent identity crisis. But despite her flaws, her frame is robust and her potential unmatched.' Mangione's gratitude further includes 'free speech, the basis of our way of life'. He adds: 'When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say' – George.' The quote is from A Clash of Kings, a fantasy novel by George RR Martin. Politically, Mangione strikes a seemingly even-handed tone. In items 23 and 24, he writes: 'The conservatives, who fiercely conserve the aspects of our society that make us great.' 'The liberals, who liberate us from the outdated aspects of our society that prevent us from being greater.' Meanwhile, he heaps praise on one man who has been helping him negotiate jail life. 'My cellmate J, who – despite spending half of every day inside a shared birdcage and being sentenced to a decade away from his six kids who he loved – tolerates the clutter of all my papers, shares his unique wisdom and doesn't hesitate to humble me when I need it.' Of the jail itself, he writes in thought number 10: 'The MDC staff and CO's (corrections officers), who are nothing like what The Shawshank Redemption or The Stanford Prison Experiment had me to believe. 'While the occasional minor dissent arises, I've found that they are people too and largely there to help.' Mangione's job cleaning showers was revealed by short-term cellmate Michael Daddea, who spent two weeks at MDC. In a now deleted video on X, he said he found Mangione welcoming, saying: 'Luigi is standing there and he's like, 'Hey, how's it going?' Like, super nice. Introduced himself to me first thing,' he said. Daddea, accused of 3D-printing at least 25 untraceable 'ghost guns' similar to the weapon allegedly used to kill Thompson, added Mangione was a 'collie'. 'So, a collie could be like a unit boss that tells you what cell you're going to. Luigi just happened to be a collie that cleans the showers,' he said. Daddea was arrested at his parents' house at Weeki Wachee, about 60 miles north of Tampa, Florida, and transferred to New York before being released on $250,000 bail. He was reluctant to talk further about Mangione when spoke with him at the single-family rural home. He said his attorney had advised him to take down the X posting about the alleged killer – and he told us he was fighting the accusations against him.

The Guardian

an hour ago

• The Guardian

‘These deaths are not inevitable': state gun control laws reduce children's firearm deaths, study shows

Guns have been the leading cause of death among US children since 2020. A new study shows a clear path to addressing this scourge and saving kids' lives: state gun control laws. The study, published this month in Jama Pediatrics, reveals that states which enacted stricter gun control measures following the 2010 McDonald v Chicago supreme court ruling – a landmark decision that struck down Chicago's ban on handguns and, in effect, expanded the second amendment nationwide – have seen a relative decrease in firearm deaths among children aged up to 17. By contrast, states that expanded gun freedoms have seen a notable increase in kids' deaths from gun violence, including by homicide, by suicide and from accidents. This means that commonsense gun policies make a difference when it comes to keeping kids safe, said Nick Suplina, senior vice-president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. 'This study sends a message that lawmakers that refuse to take action or who further loosen gun laws are putting kids' lives in peril,' he said. 'That's a very powerful outcome for an academic study.' To conduct their study, researchers divided states into three categories – least permissive, more permissive and most permissive – based on the strength of their gun control laws. They then used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look into individual states' rates of pediatric firearm deaths (deaths from gun violence among children ages 0-17) over a 12-year span. What they found was a striking degree of overlap among states based on legislation enacted. In more permissive states, such as Mississippi and New Hampshire, pediatric death rates rose substantially more than expected, especially among children of color. '[We saw] so many excess deaths over and above what would have been expected,' said Jeremy Faust, an emergency room physician and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard University, and the study's lead author. But in states that passed stricter laws – such as background checks, permitting and safe-storage requirements – rates either stayed stagnant or fell. That finding surprised Faust, who anticipated that every state would see at least some increase since the number of kids killed by guns in the US has risen so sharply over the past decade. California, New York and Maryland, all of which have assault weapon bans and safe-storage laws, saw decreased rates of pediatric firearm mortality. And Rhode Island, which requires would-be gun owners to pass a firearm safety course to buy a handgun, saw a 60% drop in gun-related deaths among children. 'These deaths are not inevitable,' said Shriya Bhat, a second-year molecular biology student at Harvard and an author of the study. 'Policy choices matter, and we can learn from the places that have kept kids safer.' Gun policy experts say that research like this, which treats gun violence as a public health concern and considers the impact of on-the-books legislation from a scientific perspective, is desperately needed. 'The insights of the medical community are vital to educating policymakers and the public about the need to address the public health crisis fueled by unregulated access to firearms,' said Nick Wilson, senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress. (The White House recently removed former surgeon general Vivek Murthy's advisory on gun violence as a public health issue, and has also slashed funding for gun violence research.) Experts also stress the need for lawmakers to translate knowledge into action. That means prioritizing measures that keep all of society safe from gun violence, such as universal background checks, as well as laws that protect kids specifically, such as safe-storage regulations. 'We really need policymakers to step up,' said Kelly Drane, research director at the Giffords Law Center. Suplina added that moving the needle on policy would require dampening the influence of the country's for-profit gun lobby, which perpetuates the narrative that guns make a society safer – a myth he hopes this study can help dispel. 'Literally the exact opposite is true,' he said. 'If more guns made us safer, the US would be the safest country in the world by far. Instead, we have a homicide rate that's 25 times that of our peer nations.' Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion But a lack of gun control legislation doesn't mean individuals can't change their own behaviors to keep kids safe. Parents who own guns can safely store their firearms and ask other parents whether there are guns in the house before permitting a playdate, said Drane, much like a parent might ask if another family has a fence around their pool. 'It doesn't have to be a conversation about whether or not it's OK to own firearms, but just knowing that there's a plan in place to keep kids safe in the home is really important.' Nonetheless, researchers and experts are hopeful that political gulfs can be crossed by focusing on how policies can save the lives of children. 'We've seen a lot of public health successes that have been bridged by focusing on the impact of public health threats on children,' said Drane. 'I'm hopeful that research like this can help change minds.' For Faust, who witnessed children die from gunshot wounds first-hand while training in a Queens, New York, trauma center, addressing the epidemic of gun violence is deeply tied to his work as a physician. 'I am interested in how choices we make as a society can have a massive impact on the way we live and die,' he said. 'When you save the life of a kid, think about the decades of life you are giving back.'