Episode #35 Deep Dive – The Troubling Record of America’s New CDC Power Player
A deep dive into this week's episode of Paging America
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››› FDA’s top vaccine regulator says COVID-19 vaccines killed ten kids
Vinay Prasad, the nation’s top vaccine regulator as the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, sent an email to FDA staff in which he said, without offering proof, that ten kids had died as a result of receiving COVID-19 vaccinations and charts a path forward toward significantly more stringent requirements for vaccines to be approved. From his email:
The team has performed an initial analysis of 96 deaths between 2021 and 2024, and concludes that no fewer than 10 are related [to the COVID-19 vaccine]... For the first time, the US FDA will acknowledge that COVID-19 vaccines have killed American children. Healthy young children who faced tremendously low risk of death were coerced, at the behest of the Biden administration, via school and work mandates, to receive a vaccine that could result in death. In many cases, such mandates were harmful. It is difficult to read cases where kids aged 7 to 16 may be dead as a result of covid vaccines.
Did COVID-19 vaccine programs kill more healthy kids than it saved? … [T]he truth is we do not know if we saved lives on balance… [I]t is horrifying to consider that the US vaccine regulation, including our actions, may have harmed more children than we saved.
The article heavily references the work of Tracy Beth Høeg, a lieutenant to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who wanted to change the label of all COVID-19 vaccines to say the risks outweighed the benefits for men ages 12 to 24 which would make it prohibitively difficult for men in this age group to get the vaccine.
Experts are livid about the email. Via STAT:
Outside experts said they would need much more evidence to understand whether it had been established that the Covid vaccine caused deaths in children. They said it was surprising that more data were not included in the memo, which they viewed as certain to be made public. Some claims in the memo, such as the implication that the federal government sets school vaccine mandates, are incorrect.
“It’s irresponsible science at best and it’s dangerous to the public at the very least,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. [...]
Prasad’s memo also understated the risk Covid posed to children, experts said. Prasad said that children faced “a tremendously low risk of death”… A 2023 JAMA paper said that during the 12 months ending in July 2022, 821 people aged 19 and under died of Covid, making it the eighth leading cause of death in that age group.
At the end of his email, Prasad made it clear that it is his way or the highway for FDA staff:
Some staff may not agree with these core principles and operating principles. Please submit your resignation letters to your supervisor and CC my deputy Katherine Szarama.
The letter may have been timed to be “leaked” just in time for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting happening this week. The “Childhood/Adolescent Immunization Schedule” is on their agenda.
Twelve former FDA leaders co-wrote an op-ed for The New England Journal of Medicine titled, “A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA” in which they say they are “deeply concerned” about Prasad’s email. “These measures, and the unilateral way they are being imposed, undermine the public interest,” they wrote.
››› All eyes on Trump as ACA subsidies expire
POLITICO reports that, following his failed effort at presenting a health care plan that could pass Congress, all eyes are on Trump to see what he plans to do next because it’s clear lawmakers won’t make a move without his blessing:
Congress returns to session Monday and kicks off a December sprint to address expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and prevent health insurance premium hikes for millions of Americans.
Members of both parties acknowledge success hangs on one question: Will President Donald Trump ever figure out what he wants? [...]
Early in their holiday break, Trump appeared to be on the precipice of announcing a framework to temporarily extend the Obamacare subsidies with new eligibility restrictions, only to pull back after a mountain of internal GOP criticism.
In his only comments on the matter, Trump injected more uncertainty last week, saying he doesn’t want to extend the subsidies but understands it might be necessary.
The mixed signals have left the various factions on Capitol Hill trying to figure out where Trump will ultimately come down — and how to entice the president to back their side in a thorny policy fight that could have major political consequences in next year’s midterm elections.
As an apparent sop to Trump, Republican Sen. Rick Scott from Florida has introduced the “More Affordable Care Act” that enables Obamacare customers to use a “Trump Health Freedom Account”. Via POLITICO:
Unlike a health savings account, the freedom accounts could be tapped to pay insurance premiums.
However, the account cannot be used to pay premiums for any health plan that covers abortion or gender transition procedures, according to the bill text.
Scott’s approach is different than Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy’s. Cassidy has proposed converting the enhanced subsidies into funding for a health savings account. An HSA can be used to pay for deductibles and copays but it cannot be used for premiums. [...]
Scott’s proposal differs from Cassidy’s in another way: it would let insurers sell plans across state lines. Scott said in a release that this ensures Americans can purchase the care that best meets their needs.
››› Trump pollster to the GOP: Pivot to Rx prices to deflect attention from expiring ACA premiums
Based on polling he has conducted, Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio is advising the GOP to deflect attention from expiring ACA premiums that will throw millions off of their health insurance on January 1st and pivot to prescription drug prices, instead. His advice highlights the political potency of the affordability of prescription drugs.
Tony Fabrizio showed new polling to members of the Republican Study Committee in a closed-door meeting held a few blocks from the Capitol Wednesday. He argued the most effective way for Republicans to counter Democrats’ health care messaging is to change the subject and pivot to reducing drug prices in tandem with Trump.
Notably, the House GOP aide said Fabrizio did not recommend any extension of the insurance subsidies, something he has advocated for in the past. The Trump administration has recently refocused attention on drug pricing, a topic the president tends to return to when Democrats try to hammer him on health care.
The presentation comes as Trump is touting his new drug payment model designed to make most-favored nation prices available to state Medicaid programs via manufacturer rebates, taking credit for Biden’s Medicare prescription drug negotiation program that will save a total of $12 billion saved compared to last year’s spending, and bragging about his deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to offer discounted prices of some of their obesity drugs on a website the Trump administration is launching in January called TrumpRx.gov.
››› Doctor Critical of Vaccines Quietly Appointed as C.D.C.’s Second in Command
Louisiana Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham, who has called COVID-19 vaccines “dangerous” and has echoed many of RFK Jr.’s unproven beliefs about vaccines, has been quietly named to be the second in command at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the highest-ranking official there with a medical degree. That medical degree, however, doesn’t mean he’s a good actor when it comes to public health. From Inside Medicine (via MedPage Today):
In February 2025, Abraham made headlines by announcing that Louisiana would end mass vaccination campaigns. [...]
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. [...]
As the opioid crisis became more apparent last decade, Abraham was found to be among the most active prescribers of the drug class [...]
While Abraham holds an MD, and presents himself as a “family physician,” it appears that he is not board-certified in Family Medicine.
Links for a deeper dive on Episode #35
Vinay Prasad’s email to FDA staff is HERE.
STAT: How two top FDA officials are quietly upending vaccine regulations
STAT: Experts say top FDA official’s claim that Covid vaccines caused kids’ deaths requires more evidence
The Guardian: ‘Never seen anything like this’: alarm at memo from top US vaccine official
ACIP’s Dec. 4 agenda is HERE
The Washington Post: A dozen former FDA commissioners condemn plan to tighten vaccine approvals
POLITICO: ‘Time is not our friend’: Health care scramble begins amid mixed signals from Trump
POLITICO: Trump pollster’s health care advice for Republicans: pivot to drug prices
Forbes: Trump Administration Unveils Details On Most-Favored Nation Prices For Drugs
The Hill: Trump administration unveils Medicare negotiated price cuts for 15 drugs, including Ozempic
The New York Times: Doctor Critical of Vaccines Quietly Appointed as C.D.C.’s Second in Command
MedPage Today: Top Ivermectin Prescriber Now in CDC’s Second Highest Position
WWNO: Louisiana’s top health official, a critic of the COVID vaccine, will be CDC deputy
Louisiana Illuminator: There’s no evidence Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham is a board-certified family physician
The Banned podcast – reported, hosted, and created by Rosemary Westwood – is HERE
More outrage, incompetence, dangerous maga behavior. Call your representatives daily. Do it. This is truly madness & criminal.