“DOGE Cancels Funding for Fauci Museum Exhibit + More”

Source: DailyClout.io | VIEW ORIGINAL POST ==>

Original article (via Children’s Health Defense)

DOGE Cancels Funding for Fauci Museum Exhibit

Fox News reported:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) canceled more than $180 million in contracts over 48 hours, including a nearly $170,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci museum exhibit.

“In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contract [sic] worth $182 million,” The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced in a Friday social media post. “These contracts were entirely for administrative expenses — none touched any healthcare programs. This included terminating a $168,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.”

The news comes as DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has continued to outline vast changes in government spending over the last few weeks, including a plan to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, and sweeping changes at the U.S. Treasury Department aimed at eliminating over $100 billion per year in entitlement payments to individuals with no Social Security number.

Dismay as UK Poised to Cut Funding for Global Vaccination Group Gavi

The Guardian reported:

The U.K. is poised to cut funding to a global vaccination group that has inoculated more than a billion children in developing countries, a move aid groups say would be counterproductive and cost lives. The expected decision is causing particular alarm given that it would come immediately after Donald Trump effectively shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, halting much of its own vaccination work.

The U.K. has consistently been one of the biggest single donors to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), giving the Geneva-based public-private organisation more than £2bn over the last four years.

But with the U.K. aid budget cut back from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP, and large sums from the remaining pot diverted to pay for the cost of supporting asylum seekers in the U.K., officials and aid groups say contributions to Gavi are likely to be cut back significantly.

The FDA’s Misguided Thinking on Antibiotics

STAT News reported: 

It’s easy to criticize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whether you think the agency makes it too hard for innovative treatments to help the patients who need them or that Big Pharma holds too much sway over decisions.

We’ll avoid that fight and instead focus on why the public, with the FDA’s help, has misunderstood why so many Americans die from resistant infections every year. In short: The FDA focuses on bugs instead of patients. Only a minority of Americans who die of infections die because the bacteria causing their infections were resistant to antibiotics.

Instead, studies show that as many as 95% of Americans who die of infections had treatments that FDA considered effective for them. Yet the focus on rushing new drugs to market is in hopes they will help the 5% instead of helping the 95% survive their infections. Meanwhile, deaths from antibiotic resistance have not increased, but the number of Americans dying from all types of infections has far outpaced those from resistant bugs.

NH Resident Contracts Mpox, Health Officials Say Risk to Public Remains Low

NHPR reported:

A New Hampshire resident who traveled to east Africa returned to the state carrying a disease called clade I mpox. The person is self-isolating and “poses no current risk to the public,” according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

“The individual’s illness is likely related to their recent travel, and there is no evidence that clade I mpox is spreading from person-to-person in New Hampshire or within the United States. This is the first clade I mpox diagnosis in New Hampshire and the third clade I mpox diagnosis in the United States,” the department said in a release.

“The mpox virus is spread primarily through direct physical contact with someone who has mpox and has developed an infectious skin rash,” said State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan. “Public Health is working to identify and notify people who had close contact with the individual, so we can connect them with preventive vaccination and help them to monitor for symptoms of mpox.”

Texas Confirms Measles Outbreak as Georgia Reports More Cases

CIDRAP reported:

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) this week reported a measles outbreak involving school children in Gaines County, which is located southwest of Lubbock.  In a statement yesterday, the DSHS said six cases have been reported in people whose symptoms began over the past two weeks. All are unvaccinated residents of Gaines County.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities,” the DSHS said, adding that it is working with the South Plains Public Health District and Lubbock Public Health to investigate the outbreak.

Separately, the Lynn County Healthcare System, located south of Lubbock, reported a measles case and urged parents to watch children for symptoms and to ensure that they are up to date with measles, mumps and rubella vaccination, according to a media report. In January, health officials in the Houston area reported two measles cases, which marked the state’s first since 2023.

H1N2v Flu Hospitalizes Iowa Patient

CIDRAP reported:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported a variant H1N2 (H1N2v) infection today involving an adult in Iowa, the nation’s first variant flu case of the 2024-25 season.

The patient was sick during the week ending Jan. 18, was hospitalized, and has since recovered, the CDC said in its latest weekly FluView update. Iowa health officials who investigated the case didn’t identify any direct or indirect contact with swine or any other illnesses among the patient’s contacts. No sign of human-to-human spread is linked to the case.

Sporadic variant flu cases occur in the U.S., and most cases are tied to exposure to pigs, but human-to-human transmission can occur, though the viruses don’t spread easily among people.

FDA Warns of Possible Missed Phone Alerts From Diabetes Device Apps

MedPage Today reported:

Some patients with diabetes may be missing critical safety alerts on their phones, the  U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on Feb. 5. The agency said it has received reports of users of smartphone-compatible diabetes devices — such as insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and automated insulin dosing systems — not hearing alerts or alerts not being delivered at all. Missing these safety alerts may lead to serious harms, including severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, and death.

“Modern medical devices, such as diabetes devices that connect to a smartphone, can provide users with the convenience and flexibility to configure alerts that are personalized to them. However, users should stay aware of alert settings and monitor these devices to ensure they continue to receive critical alerts as expected,” said Courtney Lias, Ph.D., director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Products in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in a statement.

“Even if configured correctly, certain hardware or software changes can interrupt the expected operation of these critical devices, which can lead to patient harm if undetected.”

AbbVie, Pfizer Gain FDA OK for Novel Antibiotic

BioPharma Dive reported:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new combination antibiotic developed by AbbVie and Pfizer for tough-to-treat bacterial infections. The drug, named Emblaveo, is cleared for use alongside the antibiotic metronidazole in adults who have either limited or no other available options to treat their complicated intra-abdominal infections.

The drug is indicated for use even if those infections are caused by so-called gram-negative bacteria, like E. coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae. Gram-negative bacterial infections are difficult to control and seen as a public health threat because of their ability to thwart available treatment.

The post “DOGE Cancels Funding for Fauci Museum Exhibit + More” appeared first on DailyClout.