patrick.net

"I think this is bullshit from Kennedy. Did anything really change?"

In related news, after Secretary Kennedy ended the jabs’ EUAs yesterday, CVS canceled covid vaccine appointments in 16 states (including Florida, New York, and DC). Those are states where pharmacies may not legally give unscheduled vaccines without a prescription.

CVS and Walgreens Clamp Down on Covid Vaccines in Many States
Because a C.D.C. panel has not yet recommended the shots, the country’s largest pharmacy chains are requiring prescriptions or holding back altogether under some state laws.

Yesterday, Axios ran a story headlined, “What to know about Jim O'Neill, new acting CDC director.” The leftwing paper warned, “O'Neill, who is not a physician, is an ally of Health Secretary Kennedy and could help him enact the Make America Health Again agenda.” Not that!

“O'Neill publicly criticized the CDC during the COVID pandemic,” Axios added, “and has pushed treatments that are not supported by scientific research, like ivermectin.”

As did most corporate media, Axios sneered at Mr. Kennedy’s transgression of the CDC’s “traditional institutional independence.” But the CDC has no legal “independence” like the Fed or the judiciary does. So the complaints are just more whining about “norms and customs.”

During the pandemic, the CDC traded away its carefully cultivated aura of scientific neutrality in exchange for short-term political utility, carrying water for mandates, school closures, and shifting narratives. That credibility capital was burned like dry tinder, on purpose, to achieve short-term political objectives.

Now they don’t want to pay the bill.

That’s why RFK can install someone like Mr. O’Neill, who is not a doctor, and is openly critical of the agency’s pandemic conduct. The CDC has lost whatever reserve of public trust that could have successfully insulated it. It can no longer plead that it’s “above politics”— after having played politics.

The CDC’s director is appointed by the President, but until this year, did not require Senate confirmation (unlike, e.g., the FBI director or Attorney General). In fact, when Biden appointed goofy Rochelle Walensky during covid, she just took the job without any Senate vote.

But in January, a new law (passed by Biden) required all future CDC nominees to be confirmed. Undoubtedly, this was done to frustrate President Trump, helped by Republicans furious about Biden’s CDC directors. Susan Monarez was the first who required confirmation.

Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, an acting CDC director can serve for up to 210 days from the date of the vacancy, unless a nomination for a permanent director is submitted to the Senate, which can extend the acting service period while the nomination is pending, or if confirmation is attempted but fails. So O’Neill could be sticking around for a while, which is why progressive medical fetishists are freaking out.

One possibility for a permanent CDC Director making the gossip rounds this week is standout Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo, who’s packed to the gills with both Ivy League credentials and MAHA bona fides. While serving here, he’s beaten back mandates, nixed flouride, withered covid shots, assaulted mercury fillings, and advocated for raw milk.

Governor DeSantis lobbied hard for Dr. Ladapo after Trump’s election, but Kennedy was politically boxed into hiring Susan Monarez instead.

The Guardian carried what was perhaps yesterday’s best news. The article ran below the headline, “RFK Jr critic Paul Offit removed from FDA vaccine advisory committee.” Bye, Felicia!

Grandfatherly Paul Offit isn’t the disinterested scientist that corporate media suggests. He’s the consummate insider. He co-invented the rotavirus vaccine Rotateq, cashing out for tens of millions in royalties, which makes him less of an objective adviser and more of a salesman in a lab coat.

While sitting on the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, he helped guide policies that benefited the very industry from which he profited, a glaring conflict of interest. Offit has also become the media’s favorite go-to “expert,” quick to dismiss parental concerns about safety as “anti-science” while tossing off cavalier soundbites like “children could handle 10,000 vaccines at once.”

During the pandemic, mild-mannered Offit emerged as one of the loudest defenders of the vaccine establishment, becoming a permanent fixture on CNN, NPR, and in the pages of the New York Times. As a member of the FDA’s vaccine committee, he routinely backed emergency authorizations and aggressive rollout strategies, occasionally voicing pro-forma technical concerns, but always ultimately voting in favor of mass vaccination.

Throughout the pandemic, he positioned himself as a bulwark against asking questions, castigating even mild hesitation as dangerous. He became the human face of the “public health priesthood”: a so-called scientist with deep pharma ties, regulatory influence, and a media megaphone, pushing mandates while dismissing the lived concerns of ordinary Americans.

Now, without warning, Offit is off of it (the FDA’s vaccine panel). He said he wasn’t given a reason. Notably, the only person the Guardian quoted for its stupid, biased story (besides Offit himself) was dumpy, bow-tied wonder Peter Hotez, who has also made a fortune in vaccine sales. No other committee members, HHS staff, or anti-vaxxers had a chance to speak. So much for balance.

RFK JR is giving an absolute BEATDOWN to Democrat Senators right now

RFK JR: "Are you saying the mRNA vaccines have never been associated with myocarditis and pericarditis?"

BENNET: *rants*

RFK JR: "Is that what you're trying to tell us? You're evading the question!"

"[Americans] deserve the TRUTH. And that's what we're going to give them for the first time in the history of this agency."

RFK Jr. just walked into Congress and took down his biggest critics in one fell swoop.

This was a masterclass.

Elizabeth Warren erupted over Kennedy “taking” COVID vaccines away—only to have her $855,000 in pharma bucks exposed.

That’s when Bernie Sanders made a fatal error:

He blurted out that nearly EVERY POLITICIAN is taking Pharma dollars — as if that somehow excused Warren, himself, and his colleagues.

This is one of those head-scratching moments that leave you wondering… did he really just say that?

Before CNN starts spinning this hearing, watch all these clips they don’t want you to see.

For the past week, Democrats have been mounting pressure to get RFK Jr. to resign. They hoped this hearing would be their chance to make it happen — but things didn’t go as planned.

Right out of the gate, Kennedy announced that the CDC will be cleaning house– removing the health officials responsible for the catastrophic COVID failures.

“The people at CDC... who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who WILL BE LEAVING.”

Kennedy’s superweapon is transparency. All he needs to do is open the books. Two days ago, MedCity News ran a story (ignored by most corporate media) headlined, “Embracing Transparency, FDA Will Make All Future Drug Rejection Letters Public.” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced yesterday that the FDA will now publish drug-rejection decision letters “in real time”...

Keeping them secret was a handshake deal between FDA and drugmakers, who really don’t want the public to learn of any problems with their drugs or approval studies.

HHS Will Link Autism to Tylenol Use During Pregnancy, Wall Street Journal Reports

Acetaminophen, the ingredient found in hundreds of prescription and over-the-counter medicines — including Tylenol products — is routinely recommended for fever reduction and the relief of mild to moderate pain. Pregnant women commonly take it.

The drug has long been linked to liver toxicity, and several studies over the last decade — including one published last month by researchers at Harvard Medical School — have found that children exposed to the drug during pregnancy may be more likely to develop neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

Shares of Tylenol, made by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of Kenvue, declined nearly 11% Friday after the WSJ published its report.