President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee she considers vaccines “life-saving” and has “not seen a causal link between vaccines and autism.” The career public-health official promised to prioritise vaccine availability and modernise outbreak detection as she sought confirmation on 25 June. Lawmakers from both parties pressed Monarez on whether she would confront Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned vaccine safety and ordered sweeping changes to federal immunisation policy. Senators cited planned cuts of almost $3.6 billion to the CDC budget and layoffs already imposed under Kennedy, asking Monarez to guarantee the agency’s scientific independence. The hearing coincided with the first meeting of a reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, held after Kennedy dismissed all 17 previous members and installed eight replacements, one of whom resigned hours before the session. The panel said it would revisit the childhood vaccination schedule and consider banning thimerosal, a preservative already absent from nearly all U.S. shots. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups withdrew from the advisory process, warning that politicisation could erode immunisation coverage. Kennedy’s broader shake-up includes halting U.S. funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and hiring longtime anti-vaccine advocate Lyn Redwood to a post at HHS. The Senate committee is expected to vote on Monarez’s nomination in the coming weeks; Republicans hold the majority, making approval likely despite the intensifying debate over U.S. vaccine policy.

A Georgia man armed with a rifle fired at least 180 rounds into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters on Friday, shattering roughly 150 windows across four buildings, according to internal agency documents and officials briefed on the investigation. Bullets penetrated blast-resistant glass and sent shards as far as 60 feet into offices, but no CDC personnel were hurt. Authorities identified the shooter as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, who had publicly blamed COVID-19 vaccines for his depression. Investigators say White killed DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose during the rampage, was confronted by CDC security guards and later died after driving to a nearby pharmacy and opening fire again. Officials have not said whether he was shot by police or took his own life. Building 21, which houses CDC Director Susan Monarez’s office, absorbed the most bullet strikes. Agency staff have been instructed to work remotely this week, and CDC personnel estimate it could take weeks or even months to replace the damaged windows and clear debris. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the campus on Monday with Monarez and Deputy Health Secretary Jim O’Neill, later meeting privately with Rose’s widow. “No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” Kennedy said in a statement, pledging federal support for the CDC workforce as the agency assesses long-term security and operational impacts.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed several key nominees associated with President Donald Trump in recent votes. Emil Bove, a former personal lawyer to Trump and a senior Justice Department official, was confirmed by a 50-49 party-line vote as a United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. His confirmation followed objections from Democrats and whistleblower complaints regarding his conduct. Susan Monarez, nominated by Trump to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was confirmed by a 51-47 party-line vote. Monarez is tasked with directing the CDC's response to public health threats. Additionally, Andrew Puzder was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union with a 53-44 vote. Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro was confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia by a 50-45 party-line vote, with all Democrats opposing her confirmation. These confirmations reflect continued Republican control of key federal positions tied to the Trump administration.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its website to say that healthy children six months and older, as well as pregnant women, may receive a COVID-19 vaccination after consulting with a health-care provider. The language replaces a previous, stronger recommendation that those groups should be vaccinated, but it preserves federal advice that the shots remain available to families who want them. The move openly contradicts a directive issued days earlier by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced that federal agencies would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children or for expectant mothers. Kennedy’s position is a pillar of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, which has drawn fire from many public-health experts. FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary has backed Kennedy’s stance, telling CBS’s “Face the Nation” that regulators will not “push the Covid shot in young, healthy kids without any clinical-trial data supporting it.” He also branded the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, ACIP, a “kangaroo court” that he says rubber-stamps new immunizations—comments that have intensified concerns about political interference in scientific decision-making. Criticism of Kennedy’s approach widened after lawmakers and watchdog groups said the MAHA report cited studies that do not exist and threatened to bar federal scientists from publishing in leading medical journals. While the White House works to revise the error-filled document, physicians warn that the warring messages from CDC, HHS and FDA risk deepening public confusion over COVID-19 vaccination at the start of summer.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told physician groups, public-health professionals and infectious-disease specialists that they will no longer take part in the working groups that prepare evidence for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the body that shapes national vaccine recommendations, according to an internal email first reported by Bloomberg. The message said the change was needed to ensure discussions are 'free of influence from any special interest groups,' calling the outside organisations biased because of the populations they represent. About 30 professional societies—among them the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America—have historically supplied unpaid experts who sift through data on efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness before ACIP votes. In a joint statement, eight of those groups said the decision is 'irresponsible' and 'dangerous to the nation’s health' because it removes long-standing, independent expertise from the review process. The step marks the second major overhaul of ACIP this summer. In June, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 voting members of the committee and installed seven replacements, several of whom have questioned the value of routine immunisation. The latest move extends the shake-up to the subcommittees that do much of ACIP’s technical work. Ousted advisers and other specialists warn the restructuring could erode public trust in vaccination guidelines. Seventeen former ACIP members used a New England Journal of Medicine editorial to call for an alternative mechanism to vet vaccine policy, while Democrats on the Senate Health Committee have opened an investigation into Kennedy’s actions. Legal challenges to the changes are also pending.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved President Donald Trump's nominee, Susan Monarez, to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a party-line vote. This approval moves Monarez's nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. If confirmed, Monarez will be the first CDC director without a medical degree since 1953. This marks the first time the Senate will confirm a CDC head under Trump's administration, following the withdrawal of his initial nominee due to opposition within the Republican Party. The nomination has drawn attention amid ongoing vaccine policy debates.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deactivated its emergency response to the H5N1 avian-influenza outbreak, shifting oversight back to its routine influenza division after a sustained decline in animal infections and five consecutive months without a human case. The emergency activation, in place since 4 April 2024, allowed the agency to surge staff and resources as the virus moved beyond poultry to infect more than 1,000 dairy-cattle herds across 17 states, raised egg prices and sickened 70 people—mostly farm workers—killing one. While the outbreak has affected an estimated 175 million birds in the United States since 2022, federal surveillance now records only sporadic detections. Health officials said the public-health risk remains low but pledged to maintain surveillance and swiftly re-escalate the response if human transmission re-emerges. Data on human monitoring will be published monthly rather than weekly, and animal infection tallies will be folded into broader seasonal-influenza reporting.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine advisory committee convened for the first time since U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the entire previous panel and appointed eight new members. Half of the newly appointed members have previously expressed skepticism toward vaccines. During their initial meeting, the reconstituted advisory panel announced plans to review the childhood and adolescent immunization schedules as well as the use of older vaccines. This move has raised concerns among pediatricians and medical experts who worry about the potential impact on access to established, lifesaving vaccines. The committee's review marks a departure from longstanding consensus on children's vaccination protocols and comes amid ongoing public scrutiny of vaccine policies.

COVID-19 activity is accelerating across the United States, according to the latest weekly update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency’s wastewater surveillance system—which can detect spread before clinical tests or hospital visits—has moved to a “moderate” alert nationwide, up from “low” the previous week. The West is driving the increase, with Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah registering the highest viral concentrations. Separately, the CDC estimates infections are growing or likely growing in 45 states, up from 40 a week earlier. Although COVID-related emergency-room visits remain well below prior seasonal peaks, they have also risen over the past week, the agency said. Public-health officials say the uptick fits a pattern of summer surges that have become typical since the pandemic’s first year, but caution that vulnerable groups—including older adults, young children and the immunocompromised—should monitor local conditions and consider updated vaccinations and other preventive measures.

The United States has logged 1,214 confirmed measles cases so far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest weekly update. The agency counted 17 additional infections—fewer than 20 for a second straight week—bringing the nation close to the 1,274 cases recorded in 2019, the highest annual total since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. Iowa health officials declared the state’s first measles outbreak after three household cases were added to an earlier infection, taking the state’s tally to six. Georgia confirmed a second cluster, also lifting its total to six. All of the recent infections in both states involve unvaccinated individuals, according to local health departments. In Utah, authorities reported the state’s first locally acquired measles case in at least two years, an unvaccinated adult from Utah County with no travel history. Residents who may have been exposed at two medical facilities on 13–14 June have been advised to monitor for symptoms and verify their vaccination status. West Texas remains the epicenter of the U.S. resurgence with 750 cases, while the CDC counts 23 active outbreaks across 36 jurisdictions. About 12% of patients have required hospital care, and three unvaccinated people—two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico—have died. The CDC says 95% of the infections have occurred in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. The U.S. flare-up is part of a broader North American trend. Ontario has recorded 2,179 cases and one death since October, Alberta has reported 996 cases, and Mexico’s Chihuahua state has logged 2,335 cases and four deaths. U.S. health officials warn that falling childhood immunization—kindergarten MMR coverage slipped to 92.7% last school year, below the 95% herd-immunity threshold—continues to leave communities vulnerable.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has reconstituted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine advisory committee by dismissing all previous members and appointing new, handpicked advisers. This new vaccine advisory panel convened for the first time in late June 2025 and announced plans to review the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, including the use of older vaccines. These inquiries into established vaccination practices have raised concerns among pediatricians. Additionally, there are reports that the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force fears similar dismissal and replacement by Kennedy. Beyond vaccines, HHS has launched a reform of the organ transplant system following a probe that uncovered premature organ retrieval attempts on patients showing signs of life, prompting threats to close a major procurement body. Kennedy's department has also faced criticism for cutting medical research funding and recruiting from fringe medical journals, which some experts warn jeopardizes public health goals. Prominent scientists have voiced alarm over these developments, highlighting potential impacts on organ donation willingness and broader medical research efforts.

COVID-19 infections are increasing or likely increasing in 25 U.S. states, according to new modeling from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covering the week that ended July 8. The agency said roughly half of the country now shows upward trends, with the West Coast, Southeast and South accounting for most of the growth. California is already recording a measurable uptick that local health officials say may signal the start of a summer wave. The CDC also flagged rising case trajectories in Mississippi and Pennsylvania, among other states. Despite the regional flare-ups, the CDC continues to classify overall national COVID-19 activity as “low,” noting hospitalizations and deaths remain far below previous surges. The agency advises that vaccination and updated booster coverage remain the most effective tools to limit severe outcomes as the summer travel season progresses.