‘CRITICAL MOMENT’
Cassidy, a doctor who had expressed wariness about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views but ultimately cleared the path for his confirmation, on Thursday said the nation is at a “critical moment in public health.”
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, the loss of trust in public health and science agencies remains. This comes as the nation faces serious health threats like a measles outbreak, which has already claimed at least one life and hospitalized many more,” Cassidy said.
The Atlanta-based CDC, with an annual budget of US$17.3 billion, tracks and responds to domestic and foreign threats to public health. Roughly two-thirds of its budget provides funds to the public health and prevention activities of state and local health agencies.
While in Congress, Weldon challenged studies demonstrating the safety of childhood vaccines, asserting they were harmful and linked with autism, a theory espoused by longtime vaccine skeptic Kennedy but debunked by scientists. Reuters has reported that the CDC does plan to study autism and vaccines.
Also on the CDC agenda will be bird flu, which has decimated poultry flocks, infiltrated dairy herds and infected 70 people in the United States, resulting in one death.
Although the risk of bird flu to the general public remains low, the risk to people in contact with infected animals or surfaces is moderate to high, according to CDC’s latest risk assessment.
Shares of vaccine makers initially rose after the withdrawal became public, but gave back most of those gains. Moderna shares, which had been up more than 5 percent, were about flat, as were Novavax shares. Pfizer was up less than 1 percent on another down day for the broader market.
