It is becoming increasingly certain that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be removed as Secretary of Health and Human Services after the 2026 midterm elections, and replaced with an HHS secretary better aligned with the administration's broader political and policy objectives. These include a more cooperative relationship with the pharmaceutical industry and a more conventional approach to public health, a key aspect being the elimination of the appearance of opposition to easily available vaccination.

This possibility has become increasingly plausible over the past several months. Among the developments pointing in that direction are the White House overruling FDA leadership to force acceptance of Moderna's biologics license application for its mRNA influenza vaccine; the appointment of the decidedly pro-vaccination Dr. Erica Schwartz to head the CDC; the industry-friendly White House-directed withdrawal of an FDA proposed rule that would have required manufacturers to test talc-based cosmetics for asbestos; and the recent cancellation of a planned "Take Back Your Health" advertising campaign, which would have featured Kennedy himself in spots. Taken together, these developments suggest an administration increasingly willing to override Secretary Kennedy's policy preferences in favor of broader White House priorities. The ad campaign cancellation is particularly noteworthy, as it invokes the pattern of events preceding the dismissal of Secretary Kristi Noem.

Tension has been building for some time. President Trump has consistently distinguished his position from the broader anti-vaccination movement, expressing support for vaccines against polio and measles, and continuing to consider the development of the COVID-19 vaccine during his first administration as a laudatory achievement. At the same time, opposition to vaccination has become a political disadvantage compared to its role several years ago. Secretary Kennedy, by contrast, has continued to pursue initiatives perceived as reflecting a broader opposition to vaccination, bucking indications that the White House wants a more disciplined and politically sustainable message.

An institutional mismatch has also become increasingly apparent. HHS has no particular authority to eliminate vaccination mandates, but exercises substantial influence over when or whether vaccines are licensed, and how readily individuals can obtain vaccines. Consequently, Secretary Kennedy's actions affect the availability of vaccines to those wanting to receive them, rather than the existence of mandates.

Those opposing vaccination policy likely have a relatively short window, from now until the midterm elections to accomplish what they hope to achieve under Secretary Kennedy. After that point, political incentives will militate replacement of Secretary Kennedy with someone whose priorities more closely align with those of the White House.

Can you recognize this recycled propaganda being laundered across the websites and social media accounts of anti-vaccine influencers? https://lnkd.in/e7VzHBgb

Vous avez lu mon guide pour comprendre pourquoi il y a de l’alu dans les vaccins et comment notre corps le traite. Et pourtant, vous repoussez votre prochain vaccin.

Parce qu’au fond, il vous reste un doute : “Et si je m’empoisonnais un peu ?” 😥

Pourtant, vous n’êtes pas du genre à croire à une fake news.
Vous avez lu les études qui montrent que l’alu dans les vaccins n’est pas dangereux.

Mais le problème ne vient pas de vous. Il vient de votre cerveau !

Une fois qu’une information s’installe, elle laisse une trace. Et découvrir qu’elle était fausse ne suffit pas toujours à l’effacer.

C’est paradoxal :
➡️ La correction finit bien par entrer dans notre mémoire.
➡️ Mais elle ne remplace pas automatiquement la croyance initiale.

Résultat, lorsque le sujet revient quelques semaines plus tard, c’est souvent la fausse information qui ressort en premier.

Votre cerveau entend vaccin. Et il envoie une alerte “vaccin → alu → danger” 🚨

C’est ce que les chercheurs appellent “l’effet d’influence continue”. Et personne n’est à l’abri de se faire avoir !

Par contre, vous pouvez entraîner votre cerveau à repérer les techniques de manipulation pour mieux détecter les fake news.

Avec Catherine, on vous montre comment faire dans l’édition gratuite de la newsletter “En quête de mythes” 👉 https://lnkd.in/ef6Yz5Dd

A new generation of anti-vaccine influencers seem to think they are on to something new! What are they doing? They think they are defending Andy Wakefield’s fraud…

Aujourd'hui dans « Affaires Sensibles », sur France Inter, Fabrice Drouelle au micro, je revenais sur le phénomène Didier Raoult, sa personnalité autoritaire et ses travaux frauduleux sur l'hydroxychloroquine, présentée dès les premiers jours de la pandémie de Covid comme un remède quasi miracle à ce qu'il considérait alors comme « l’infection respiratoire la plus facile à traiter de toutes ».

Quel plaisir de recevoir le toujours excellent Patrick Cohen pour l'entretien. Dans son nouveau livre "Les Mystificateurs, À quand un vaccin contre les gourous de la science ?" (ed. Flammarion), il revient sur quelques figures de "gourous" qui, avant Didier Raoult, ont contribué à populariser l’anti-science.

A réécouter ici :

https://lnkd.in/eUqNsiyv | 14 comments on LinkedIn

The nonprofit Children's Health Defense that Kennedy led has filed nearly 30 federal and state lawsuits since 2020, many challenging vaccines and public health mandates.

Vaccine Recommendations: Science, Success, & Myths with Dr. John Molinari starts Thursday at 7 pm ET!
REGISTER HERE ➡️ https://tinyl.co/4hGK

This live webinar will consider vaccination as one of the most effective public health approaches for protection of both the general population and health care professionals. The most recent recommendations for vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, including influenza and other respiratory infections, pneumococcal pneumonia, shingles, human papilloma viruses (HPV), and pertussis (i.e., whooping cough). Important information also will be included describing unfortunate widespread efforts to misrepresent vaccine success and promote myths which damage control against vaccine-preventable diseases. Measles will be used as an important disease example of this emerging public health threat.

A major portion of this presentation will discuss appropriate scientific and clinical evidence for development of available vaccines and emerging technologies, in order to provide participants useful information when considering:
1. their own protection;
2. protection of their patients (general public); and
3. vaccine requirements for individuals diagnosed with immune compromising conditions and diseases.

Excited to be speaking at the Serious Play Conference at Duke University on August 6th! I'll be presenting with colleagues Abby Adams, Angela Hackstadt, and Daniel Ireton on our IMLS-funded project to create a digital game that helps learners detect misinformation. Looking forward to it!

#seriousplay26 #seriousgames #gamebasedlearning #gbl #gamification #educationalgames

I had the chance to be part of a French-German workshop on the fight against disinformation at the Ambassade de France in Berlin, among great participants from French and German medias, regulators, politicians and companies. 

I reminded that we need a double vaccine against disinformation. One for journalists. One for the public.

💉 THE VACCINE FOR JOURNALISTS matters, because when a trusted media outlet spreads disinformation, the damage is massive, more than when disinformation stays only on social networks.

There’s a framework for this: Ben Nimmo’s “Breakout Scale,” six levels tracking how a fake narrative escalates. Level one is when a fake news is published only on one social network with low virality. Level four is the moment mainstream media picks it up and amplifies it. That’s the level we must never reach.

At Radio France, more than 14 million people listen to our stations every day. That’s the scale of our responsibility.

So we built a central fact-checking unit, "l'Agence Radio France" : about 15 specialized journalists supporting the 800 journalists across our newsrooms. They work like a press agency, and some of their tasks are issuing internal bulletins that flag fake news in real time, break down disinformation tactics, and help verify images and sources before they hit air.

💉 THE VACCINE FOR THE PUBLIC is just as critical. Building resilience and news literacy is a shared mission across government, civil society, and media.

But journalists have work to do too. We need to be far more transparent about our methods. Saying “this is true” isn’t enough anymore in a world where true and false are more and more blurred and where distrust is so common for lots of people.

We have to explain our work: how we verified a video, which expert we called and why, what made him or her the right person to ask.

Journalists should borrow a page from science: publish the recipe, not just the result. Make our reporting reproducible.

That’s how we could try to rebuild trust with the public. None of this will be enough on its own. But strengthening our collective antibodies is a fight worth having.

#disinformation #journalism

Cécile MEGIE Benoît LOUTREL Marie Sellier Thomas Souverain CORRECTIV Sophie Gourmelen Maxim Nitsche Céline Calvez Léa Surugue Deutsche Welle Sophia Armanski Anna Lührmann

A vaccine only protects a child if it reaches them.

In 2024, an estimated 14.3 million infants were "zero-dose," meaning they had not received even a single routine vaccine. The vast majority live in low- and middle-income countries, and many in communities affected by conflict, displacement, or distance from the nearest clinic.

Reaching these children is one of the central challenges in global health today. Partners including World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance are working to close this gap, because the children who are hardest to reach are often the ones at greatest risk from preventable diseases like measles, pneumonia, and diphtheria.

Pediatricians understand this intuitively. Every well-child visit is a chance to protect, and every missed child is a missed opportunity. The work of immunization equity is not only about supply, it is about systems, trust, and meeting families where they are.

American Academy of Pediatrics Global Health stands with partners working to ensure that no child is left behind simply because of where they were born. Reaching zero-dose children is reaching the children who need us most.

📷️: WHO

#GlobalHealth #Immunization #VaccinesWork #ChildHealth #HealthEquity

Un préparateur pharmacien prépare une dose de vaccin Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19, en octobre 2025. Photo : Patrick T. Fallon / AFP Prudence Les vaccins contre le Covid-19 qualifiés « d’armes biologiques » dans un tribunal ?

While some anti-vaccine influencers are making money from vaccine fraud, they should know that they will pay big when they are caught. https://lnkd.in/g2YNFaTs

Did you know that while the IPV vaccine has significantly reduced the incidence of reported (i.e., noticeable) cases of polio, it does not prevent asymptomatic infection or the spread of poliovirus?

This is one of many facts to consider when learning about polio and the IPV vaccine.

We've included a link to additional information in the first comment.


#vaccines

This investigation analyses Robert Kennedy Jr’s anti-vax movement Children’s Health Defense efforts to expand its activities in Europe.

By interfering with how communities collect data and how researchers access it, the CDC risks undermining the hard-won trust needed for effective public health.

How are you talking to patients about vaccines? Delve into this Society of Hospital Medicine activity to learn evidence-based communication strategies to improve vaccination coverage. #VaccineConfidence

💉 Polio is eliminated in many countries—but is it gone forever?
Myth: Polio is no longer a global concern.
Fact: While tremendous progress has been made through vaccination, polio remains a public health priority in some regions, making continued immunisation and surveillance essential.

Vaccines have transformed global health, but maintaining high immunisation coverage is key to preventing resurgence.

💬What do you think is the biggest challenge to achieving a polio-free world?
Vaccine access
Vaccine awareness
Public trust
Healthcare infrastructure

#Polio #PolioEradication #Vaccination #PublicHealth #GlobalHealth