Trump unleashes RFK Jr.; Fauci takes the Fifth
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- President Trump is pressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to probe the debunked vaccines-autism link and shrink the childhood immunization schedule, per the Wall Street Journal, with a White House insider texting Axios '💯 true' about the report.link ›
- The Senate health committee approved Sean Kaufman to lead ASPR despite his anti-vaccine statements and advanced CDC nominee Erica Schwartz, who picked up a Democratic vote along the way.link ›
- Former FDA chief Marty Makary and top regulator Vinay Prasad both departed in recent months and surgeon general nominee Casey Means failed to confirm — moves the biopharma industry read as a reset that now looks like a pause.link ›
- Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment at a Rand Paul-led subpoena hearing six years after Covid began; Paul plans a contempt vote next week and Josh Hawley argued Fauci had 'no rights under the fifth amendment' post-pardon.link ›
- 155 scientists published an open letter calling the charges against Fauci 'baseless' and warning the hearing will 'deter other scientific experts from public service.'link ›
- The Aquiry civilization built 432 geometric earthworks in the Amazon between 600 BC and AD 850, with lidar revealing nearly 400 previously unknown structures — and Martti Pärssinen estimates a peak population of 1.25 to 3 million.link ›
- DNDi's mycetoma trial in Sudan showed once-weekly oral fosravuconazole matches the expensive daily itraconazole standard — a decade after WHO added the disease to its neglected list, with burden studies now underway in Ethiopia, Senegal, India and Kenya.link ›
- The Council on Foreign Relations pushes back hard on the 'overstated risk' framing of U.S. dependence on Chinese pharma, citing a 2023 DoD official's testimony that API dominance is a risk that 'cannot be overstated' and Beijing's prior weaponization of drug exports to Japan.link ›
Donald Trump is done pretending moderation on vaccines is a winning midterm formula. The Wall Street Journal reports the president is pressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to probe the debunked vaccines-autism link and prune the childhood immunization schedule — right as the Senate health committee cleared Sean Kaufman to lead ASPR despite his anti-vaccine statements and advanced CDC nominee Erica Schwartz. The same week, Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth at a Rand Paul-led subpoena hearing, and 155 scientists rushed to defend him in an open letter. The throughline is unmistakable: the vaccine wars are back in full swing, and the political guardrails that briefly held Kennedy in check are off.
The stories behind this week
Lost civilisation in the Amazon may have numbered 3 million peopleThe evidence of a population up to 3 million reshapes understanding of the Amazon as a pristine wilderness, showing instead that ancient societies profoundly altered its ecology and structure—impacting conservation science, archaeology, and Indigenous land narratives. The scale of earthworks implies complex social organization long before European contact.
Trump Pressures RFK Jr. to Restart Vaccine CrackdownThe midterm elections are still more than three months away, but the administration's earlier vaccine restraint — driven by polling showing vaccine skepticism was a GOP political liability — is already fraying, with Trump personally backing a more aggressive agenda. Biotech companies and public health agencies that welcomed the earlier Makary/Prasad departures now face renewed uncertainty, and court fights over vaccine schedules are likely to multiply if Kennedy proceeds without the political guardrails that previously held him back.
Mycetoma: Decade After WHO Listing, Still NeglectedThe next decade of mycetoma care hinges on whether endemic countries integrate it into national health systems — making it a notifiable disease and training frontline workers — and whether distributed research partnerships modeled on the HAT Platform for sleeping sickness take root; without those structural shifts, WHO recognition will remain symbolic for the barefoot farmworkers who most need treatment.
U.S. Drug Dependence on China Is a Security RiskThe piece reframes the drug-shortage debate from "fix U.S. regulation" to "match China's industrial scale." Patients face shortages lasting three years on average while China has already weaponized drug supplies against Japan, the authors note. Their prescription—sustained U.S. investment in domestic manufacturing and allied sourcing—directly rejects tariff-only approaches as inadequate.
Fauci Pleads Fifth at Senate Lab Leak HearingPaul's push for a contempt vote within a week gives the hearing a concrete next step rather than leaving it as symbolic theater. The 155-scientist open letter shows institutional pushback, but the hearing itself — held despite Biden's pre-emptive pardon — signals that Republican scrutiny of pandemic-era officials now extends beyond policy disagreement into compelled testimony demands that could chill scientific participation in government.
Welsh fossil hunter finds Wales' first Jurassic sea dragonThe find is the first confirmed rhomaleosaur in Wales, expanding the known range of these early Jurassic marine reptiles and giving researchers a 201-million-year-old specimen to study. Myerscough's decision to publicise his find sites in the book also breaks with the typical secrecy of amateur palaeontologists, opening the hobby wider to newcomers.
How midwives fight vaccine misinformationWith measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases resurging and maternal mortality rising—especially among Black women—midwives who combine clinical expertise with trusted community relationships are becoming critical frontline responders in public health, filling gaps that traditional systems are failing to address.
UPFs linked to depression, dementia and faster cognitive declineThe cumulative observational evidence across roughly 130,000 study participants worldwide consistently links UPF-heavy diets to cognitive decline, dementia, Parkinson's and depression — giving consumers a concrete reason to target products that combine added sugars, high salt and low fibre before formal causal trials arrive.
Why it matters: If the Makary/Prasad departures were supposed to be a reset, that reset is now clearly over — expect federal vaccine advisory committees and the childhood immunization schedule to be the next contested ground once midterms clear, with biotech and public health agencies facing a far more hostile terrain.
