Source: Children’s Health Defense

Top Ivermectin Prescriber Now in CDC’s Second Highest Position

MedPage Today reported:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) internal email server now lists Louisiana physician Ralph Lee Abraham, M.D., as the agency’s principal deputy director. Until now, Abraham served as Louisiana’s surgeon general. One source, a national public health expert who previously served in government and is familiar with Abraham’s career, said that this would be “an irresponsible choice.” He added, “He’s a dangerous guy because he’s very slick,” referring both to his style and his experience as a Congressman from 2015-2021.

In February 2025, Abraham made headlines by announcing that Louisiana would end mass vaccination campaigns. While Abraham may not be a strict anti-vaxxer (he said that childhood immunizations are “important”), the announcement came the same day that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary — not exactly a subtle way to audition for a top job within HHS.

The state of Louisiana, under Abraham’s leadership, failed to alert physicians and the public about two whooping cough deaths and the largest outbreak in the state in 35 years for months, despite medical professionals’ attempts to raise the issue. A MedPage Today analysis found that out of around 12,000 practicing physicians in 2021, Abraham was the seventh highest prescriber of ivermectin in the state, a drug that by then had already been found to be ineffective in treating COVID-19.

Abraham prescribed the medication 422 times in 2021, which meant that he was personally responsible for 1.1% of the state’s ivermectin prescriptions. (In fairness, that pales in comparison to Texas physician Stella Immanuel, M.D., who milled out 31,979 Ivermectin prescriptions in 2021.)

CDC Instructs Researchers to End All Monkey Studies by Year-End: Science

Fierce Biotech reported:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is instructing scientists to end all research involving monkeys by the end of the year, in a move that will impact around 200 macaques and an unknown number of studies, Science first reported. The change was communicated to staff by Sam Beyda, a former employee of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency who is now the CDC’s deputy chief of staff, according to Science’s Nov. 21 article.

According to an anonymous official quoted by the journal, Beyda said he was speaking for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is allegedly prioritizing the reduction of animal research as part of his Make America Healthy Again agenda. It is not known what will happen to the monkeys, which include a mix of rhesus and pig-tailed macaques that stay at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters.

The CDC did not respond to Fierce’s questions regarding the fate of the animals or the impact on active studies. “CDC is committed to the highest standards of ethical and humane care and to minimizing the use of laboratory animals in accordance with the principles of animal welfare in scientific research known as ‘replacement, reduction and refinement,’” an agency spokesperson told Fierce.

EPA Just Approved New ‘Forever Chemical’ Pesticides for Use on Food

The Washington Post reported:

Critics warn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) approvals of new per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, pesticides could expose more Americans to “forever chemicals” through their food.

The EPA is moving forward with approvals for pesticides containing “forever chemicals” as an active ingredient, dismissing concerns about health and environmental impacts raised by some scientists and activists.

Trump EPA to Abandon Air Pollution Rule That Would Prevent Thousands of U.S. Deaths

The Washington Post reported:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will no longer defend Biden-era limits on fine-particle pollution, which causes heart and lung disease. The EPA is abandoning a rule that would strengthen limits on fine-particle pollution, a move scientists and experts say could lead to dirtier air and more U.S. deaths.

On Monday night, the agency moved to vacate defense of the rule, which the Biden administration finalized last year, arguing that the previous administration did not have the authority to tighten it. That regulation imposed stricter standards on fine particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, including soot, which ranks as the nation’s deadliest air pollutant.

CDC Outlines New Initiatives Such as Expanded Hepatitis B Screening With Potential Vaccine Policy Impacts

CIDRAP reported:

This week, leaders at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) circulated a list of 16 strategic initiatives that offer the clearest view yet of the Trump administration’s plans for the agency under U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The list, shared in an internal memo obtained by STAT, includes initiatives such as decreasing animal testing, advancing diagnostic preparedness, and “invigorating the CDC workforce.”

Former Department of Government Efficiency official Sam Beyda, who was recently named as the CDC’s deputy chief of staff, will lead five initiatives, Reuters reported.

One initiative, a call for increasing hepatitis B screening in pregnant women, could have immediate vaccine policy implications. The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, is set to meet early next month and discuss the hepatitis B vaccine.

Administration officials previously raised this idea of maternal screening as a way to delay an infant’s first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, which is currently given at birth. If a pregnant person tests negative for hepatitis B, some officials have suggested, the first dose of the vaccine could be delayed until one month of age.

FDA Frictions Continue as White House Denies Promotion to Makary’s Aide

BioSpace reported: 

Sanjula Jain-Nagpal, associate director of Policy & Research Strategy at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will be allowed to remain at the agency but will not be promoted to Commissioner Marty Makary’s deputy chief of staff. Citing two Trump administration officials granted anonymity, Politico on Friday reported that the White House wanted Jain-Nagpal to resign after she announced herself to FDA stakeholders as Makary’s deputy chief of staff when her promotion had not yet been approved.

The White House took this as a sign of insubordination, Endpoints News reported on Friday, which led to calls for her to leave the agency. Makary pushed back on this request, insisting that the issue was a misunderstanding. After discussions cleared up “some communication issues,” it was decided that Jain-Nagpal “had not directly disobeyed” directives and the government officials eventually relented, according to the White House sources.

“She is an employee at the FDA, and that has not changed,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told Politico on Friday. Jain-Nagpal will remain a policy and research staffer at the agency.