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Federal health officials are examining the feasibility of taking aluminum salts out of vaccines, a prospect that vaccine experts said would wipe out about half of the nation’s supply of childhood inoculations and affect shots that protect against whooping cough, polio and deadly flu. The review at the Food and Drug Administration began after President Trump listed aluminum in vaccines as harmful during a press briefing about the unproven link between Tylenol and autism. (Jewett, 10/15)

Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said that vaccines are harder to get approved right now as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks to overhaul the country’s immunization policies. “It’s not harder to get drug approvals right now, it’s harder to get vaccine approvals,” Bourla said Wednesday during a wide-ranging conversation with CNBC that waded into his company’s US investments, deal with the Trump administration and the country’s current regulatory environment. (Peterson and Muller, 10/15)

mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in the first trimester of pregnancy isn't tied to an elevated risk of 75 major congenital malformations (MCMs) affecting 13 organ systems, supporting the safety of the vaccines in early pregnancy, French researchers write today in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 10/15)

Unvaccinated South Carolinians can get a measles shot for free at mobile vaccine clinics rolling across Spartanburg County this week and next amid an ongoing and growing outbreak. The state’s public health agency is offering the free shots as officials urged the unvaccinated to get a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. (Holdman, 10/15)

On a call with reporters Wednesday, former CDC officials Demetre Daskalakis and Debra Houry said the U.S. is heading into flu season underprepared, citing recent staff cuts and the absence of a major public vaccination campaign. In previous years, the agency pushed a “wild vs. mild” message — that a flu shot could turn a severe infection into something much milder. (Kousouris, 10/15)

Fifteen Democratic governors on Wednesday announced the formation of a state public health alliance designed to counter turmoil at federal agencies under the Trump administration. Leaders of the Governors Public Health Alliance said it will serve as a hub for governors and public health leaders to monitor disease outbreaks, establish public health policy guidance, prepare for pandemics and buy vaccines and other supplies. (Ovalle and Sun, 10/15)

The CEO of the drugmaker GSK on Wednesday said the company has had a minimal role in the Food and Drug Administration’s effort to update the prescribing information of a long-shelved drug so that it can be used to treat a condition often associated with autism. (Chen, 10/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s A Chemtrail? New Conspiracy Theory Takes Wing At Kennedy's HHS

While plowing a wheat field in rural Washington state in the 1990s, William Wallace spotted a gray plane overhead that he believed was releasing chemicals to make him sick. The rancher began to suspect that all white vapor trails from aircraft might be dangerous. He shared his concern with reporters, acknowledging it sounded a little like “The X Files,” a science fiction television show. (Armour, 10/16)

A series of tumultuous health policy changes seem to have shaken faith in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s quest to tackle chronic disease and question science. Fifty-nine percent of Americans now disapprove of the Health and Human Services secretary’s performance, according to a �鶹Ů�� poll released last week. And six surgeons general from Democratic and Republican administrations, including President Donald Trump’s first term, say he is “endangering the health of the nation.” Jerome Adams, Trump’s surgeon general from his first term, even said he should be fired. (Owermohle, 10/15)