By The Defender Staff
Trump Nominates Dr. Erica Schwartz, Former Deputy Surgeon General, for CDC Director
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he was nominating Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schwartz served as deputy U.S. surgeon general during Trump’s first term.
“Erica graduated from Brown University for College and Medical School, and served a distinguished career as a Doctor of Medicine in the United States Military, the Greatest and Most Powerful Force in the World, and then served as my Deputy Surgeon General during my First Term,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “She is a STAR!”
Trump also announced his pick of three top health officials: Sean Slovenski, a healthcare industry executive, as the CDC’s chief operating officer; Dr. Jennifer Shuford, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, as the agency’s chief medical director; and Dr. Sara Brenner, principal deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, as senior counselor for public health for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The CDC has been without a permanent director since August.
Hockey Coach Who Admitted Using a False COVID-19 Vaccine Certificate at the Olympics Is Fired
A Swiss hockey coach who admitted he used a certificate falsely claiming he’d been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get around China’s travel restrictions for the 2022 Winter Olympics has been fired. In a statement late Monday, head coach Patrick Fischer said he made a “serious mistake in this matter” by traveling to Beijing with the Switzerland men’s team using false paperwork.
The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation initially supported him, saying the case was closed because he had admitted to his mistake. But that changed Wednesday with news of his dismissal. “The case is legally closed but has triggered a public debate about values and trust, which the federation takes very seriously,” federation President Urs Kessler said in a statement.
‘My Wife Was Left Disabled by the Covid Vaccine. She Deserved More Compensation’
The husband of a woman left disabled after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine has said those harmed by the jabs should be given more money. John Stevens, whose late wife Rebecca Stevens was wheelchair-bound and largely incapacitated after receiving the AstraZeneca jab in April 2021, said the Government’s compensation system was “not fit for purpose”.
Mr Stevens told The Telegraph that the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) — which awards a flat fee of £120,000 to people seriously injured after having vaccinations — needed to be “brought up to date with modern costs”. He criticised the arbitrary level of 60 per cent “disablement” that patients must reach in order to qualify for a payout.
Mrs Stevens — known as Bec — received a payment under the VDPS, which Mr Stevens described as wholly inadequate given the level of care she required and the impact her disability had on her capacity to work.
She died in October last year at the age of 48. Her death was attributed to natural causes and “a complication which arose following administration of the AstraZeneca vaccination.” Mr Stevens said that his wife, the mother of two grown-up sons, had gone from being a highly eloquent lawyer to having very limited speech and being unable to wash, dress or feed herself. He added: “Some people have lost loved ones or had their lives changed so dramatically that this does not even scratch the surface.”
Lack of Trust in Government Triggered Vaccine Disinformation During Covid Pandemic, Ministers Warned
A lack of trust in government was a “significant contributor” in fueling misinformation and low Covid-19 vaccine uptake in some communities across the UK, ministers have been warned. The latest Covid-19 inquiry report, published on Thursday, warned the government needs to “rebuild trust” in vaccines before another pandemic hits as misinformation about jabs continues to spread across the globe, aided by social media.
Baroness Hallett, the inquiry chair, found a “lack of trust and confidence in governments and health systems”, further underlaid by “susceptibility to false information” about the jabs in the UK. Though the inquiry concluded Britain’s vaccine rollout was largely a “success story”, she found some decisions — such as mandatory vaccine requirements for care home staff in England — were “political and not led by clinical advice” and in some cases contributed to “alienation and increased vaccine hesitancy” in some groups.
FDA Asks Lilly to Evaluate Obesity Pill’s Liver Risk
Eli Lilly must evaluate whether its new obesity pill Foundayo poses any liver-related safety risks in ongoing clinical trials as a condition of its Food and Drug Administration approval, according to newly disclosed federal documents. The FDA approval letter asks Lilly, in a nearly completed study of people with diabetes, to assess and statistically analyze any unexpected cases of elevated liver enzymes meeting certain clinical safety criteria, liver harm and discontinuations due to liver-related side effects.
The letter also requests that Lilly submit data related to “unexpected serious risk” of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. The letter comes amid the launch of the second GLP-1-targeting obesity pill in the U.S. in four months.
Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill entered the U.S. market in January, igniting a furious marketing battle. Novo is looking for any edge to protect its first-mover advantage, especially as the company’s long-term outlook dims. Safety could be one factor it leans on.
Zantac Suits Tossed by Delaware Judge for Flawed Cancer Link
A Delaware judge threw out lawsuits seeking to link the heartburn drug Zantac to cancer, freeing makers of the product from facing trials in the state over the cases.
Superior Court Judge Francis “Pete” Jones concluded Monday lawyers for ex-Zantac users couldn’t produce legitimate evidence backing up claims the over-the-counter product caused cancer. Zantac is currently made by French drugmaker Sanofi.
Jones found the Zantac plaintiffs’ were not entitled to a second chance at amending their claims because they failed to meet statutory requirements to prove allegations that the cancers were caused by the medication. “This court concluded the plaintiffs were not entitled to a mulligan in the face of Delaware’s clear and existing law on causation that plaintiffs were unable to meet,” he said in a 17-page ruling.
It’s the second time in the case a Delaware judge has scrutinized evidence alleging Zantac makers knew the heartburn treatment, and its main ingredient ranitidine, caused 10 types of cancer, including breast, stomach and colon, and failed to warn users.
Comparing the Antibiotic Resistance Threat to Covid Fails to Reduce Antibiotic-Seeking, Survey Finds
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health, but finding an effective way to communicate that threat to the public — and explain how overuse of antibiotics makes the problem worse — is notoriously difficult. To date, many public messaging campaigns aiming to encourage responsible antibiotic use by the public — like not seeking antibiotics when you have a viral infection — have had a limited impact.
Part of the problem is that many people are unaware of what AMR is. And even among those who are aware of AMR, it’s a complex topic. For starters, many people are confused by the term “antimicrobial resistance,” said Stephen Flusberg, PhD, an assistant professor of cognitive science at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Some think it’s a person’s body that becomes resistant to antibiotics, rather than the bacteria. And many people struggle with understanding evolution by natural selection, which is the process that explains why bacteria become resistant to antibiotics.
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