Trump orders review of childhood vaccine schedule, calls U.S. an ‘outlier’

 Trump orders review of childhood vaccine schedule, calls U.S. an ‘outlier.’

Trump orders review of childhood vaccine schedule, calls U.S. an ‘outlier.’ Jeff Harris is at the National News Desk. We'll be watching closely. The president is now ordering the Department of Health and Human Services

to fast-track a comprehensive assessment of vaccine schedules developed by other countries to bring the United States into line with the gold standard. The president's new

memo comes hours after CDC vaccine advisors voted to remove a recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine that is given at birth.

Instead, they are recommending the birth dose only for newborns whose mothers tested positive for the virus, or if the mother was not tested, there is a reasonable risk of infection.

For most children, the risk is low. But critics say that delaying the shot could have dangerous consequences. It has a very high potential for harm, and I just hope

that the committee will take responsibility for it when it comes to harm and I will not vote for it. The panel now recommends that infants who have not received the initial dose not begin their vaccination series

until the child is two months old. The acting CDC director will need to approve the new guidance to implement it. The CDC director is approximately

From the New York Times, this is in the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today is Thursday, December 4. Here's what we're covering today [Music]. I'm in Atlanta for a very important committee meeting.

This is the vaccine committee that makes recommendations, basically guidelines for all the shots that adults and children in the United States get. And this week it looks like they're going to make some big changes.

My colleague Apora Mandaville is covering a CDC committee meeting today that looks set to make a big switch involving a vaccine

that has been recommended for all newborns in the U.S. for decades. The hepatitis B vaccine. It protects against a highly contagious disease that can cause serious liver damage.

And after children were vaccinated in the early '90s, the rate of serious infections for children dropped by 99%. But now the committee is likely to decide

whether to delay the vaccine or not, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed doubt about whether it is necessary. AORVA says

that it will also discuss reconsidering the use of other common childhood vaccines. The committee does not make laws or regulations, but the guidelines it comes up with

are crucial because they essentially determine whether insurance companies and government insurance programs will cover these shots. So, the decisions it makes

could affect people’s ability to afford or access these shots. More broadly, public health experts I spoke with

are concerned that this committee is actually elevating some of the anti-vaccine tropes that have been circulating for decades. The committee members were all chosen by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

who has made many unfounded claims over the years about vaccines that they are not properly tested, that they are toxic to children’s brains,

that they cause conditions like autism. So regardless of what this committee decides, these are the things that are very important for the public to hear through this committee.

The legality and public health experts are concerned that this will further undermine confidence in vaccines and that we will start to see some diseases

that we have not seen in a very long time. Today on Capitol Hill, two US military commanders are expected to face tough questions about one of the deadliest US boat accidents

and that it was a war crime in the Caribbean. For months, the administration has been targeting boats it claims are carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people so far.

While use-of-force experts and lawmakers have criticized the overall campaign as illegal, the focus today will be on one strike in particular. On September 2, SEAL Team 6 operators launched a strike on a ship carrying 11 people from Venezuela.

After the smoke cleared, surveillance video showed two people still alive in the wreckage. According to officials who spoke to the Times, the military intercepted communications from survivors

who were radioing suspected cartel members for help. Officials say the military interpreted the distress call as meaning the survivors were still fighting.

And Admiral Frank Bradley, who was overseeing the operation, later ordered a strike that killed both men. There is also the question of who bears ultimate responsibility for the second strike.

Bradley, who ordered it, or Hegseth, who orchestrated the more widespread, deadly operation. The Secretary of Defense, who was watching the mission live on video,

said he did not refer to the second strike and denied that he had ordered the modification, but said Bradley had made the right call.

Meanwhile, after eight months of investigation, the Pentagon is set to release its report on the Signalsgate scandal today. The Times has learned that the inquiry found

that Hegist posed a risk of endangering U.S. troops in March when he spoke about military operations in Yemen in a group chat

that coincidentally included a journalist. Investigators also said that not all of the messages were archived in violation of federal law and that Hegist denied the administration’s request during a White House sit-down yesterday.

The historic move is designed to lower costs for American consumers, protect American auto jobs, and make buying a car much more affordable for countless American families.

And safer, too. President Trump has moved to significantly weaken federal fuel efficiency standards, reversing Biden’s misstep

that had encouraged automakers to sell more efficient vehicles and more electric vehicles. It’s the administration’s latest move in a gut policy aimed at tackling climate change and doubling the number of gas-powered cars.

The White House claims the new rules will save consumers money by reducing manufacturing costs. Economists told the Times that this may happen to some extent,

but it will come at the expense of public health and the environment. Moreover, Trump’s own tariff policies, along with inflation, have helped drive up the prices of many cars.

As Trump announced the new lower standards, he was joined by top auto executives who publicly celebrated. Although privately, many have expressed concerns about changing federal policies.

As the Biden administration has done, they have already spent billions of dollars on electric vehicles. Earlier this year, when a 26-year-old woman got some blood work results

that indicated a hormone imbalance, she pasted her full medical report into the chatbot to ask what the problem might be. The chatbot told her

that the quote was most likely related to a tumor. That was wrong. But when a 63-year-old man who was feeling some discomfort during exercise asked ChatGpt for advice,

he used the information provided by the chatbot to persuade his doctor to take a closer look at his heart where they found a significant blockage.

These kinds of mixed results are the reality for millions of people around the world who have started using chatbots for health advice. Given the bot’s well-deserved reputation for getting all sorts of things wrong,

experts are concerned about potential misinformation, people thinking they’re getting ready when they’re not, or thinking something isn’t serious when it could be.

The other big concern surrounding this trend is privacy. Some people are uploading their entire medical histories to chatbots, which can include a ton of sensitive information.

And HIPPA, the federal health privacy law in the US, doesn’t apply to companies that run bots.

“You’re basically giving up any rights you might have with respect to medical privacy. Still, there are some perhaps unexpected benefits that people point to.”

A woman with metastatic appendix cancer told the Times that it’s helpful to get a quick check-up with ChatGpt when she’s feeling bad. She felt she could process the devastating news before her doctor’s visit

and then spend her time with the doctor more effectively. And finally, the race to save music history is on. Well, I thought the rain would cool things down.

Many of the artists’ studio recordings were originally made on magnetic tapes that are now in decline. And it’s been a while since then that a man in New Jersey, Kelly Preble, has been at the forefront of audio restoration,

working to save unique recordings from icons like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Vision loss. She dances on the porch with the radio on.

All analog recordings become more fragile over time, but some of the most fragile recordings date back to the 70s and 80s when changes in manufacturing introduced problems

that only became more apparent over time. Preble-Hayes has his own vocabulary for describing these problems. From loss of lubrication syndrome to adhesion syndrome

everything where spools of tape come together to form one big solid piece. And Prible offered various Rube Goldbergesque techniques for preserving these musical products

that you would normally find in a waxing salon, for example, drying wet tape on a hand-made rack of a carefully angled hair dryer. Prible is known as a magician, said an audio expert at the Library of Congress.

He saved tapes from hundreds of artists. But the work is expensive.An executive at Onerecord, whose company owns a large catalog of old recordings,

said it would cost millions of dollars to process and preserve all of his old tapes. So, it becomes a difficult question of what is safe

and what is not. Those are the headlines. I'm TracyMumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and Friday's news quiz.