CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. has gained clinical trial clearance from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for SYS-6017, an mRNA vaccine to prevent herpes zoster infections.

The development of an effective HIV vaccine remains an urgent public health need due to the high genetic variability and rapid mutation rates of the virus, which limit the generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies.

When the U.S. CDC and FDA recently removed several webpages and datasets from their websites in compliance with a directive from the Office of Personnel Management, they broke the law and harmed public health and research, according to a lawsuit filed Feb. 4 by Doctors for America.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved a step closer Feb. 4 to becoming the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 along party lines to send Kennedy’s nomination to the Senate floor for confirmation. While “no” votes were expected from the 13 Democrats serving on the committee, a big question mark had hung over which way Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., would vote, given the comments he made at two committee hearings on the nomination. In the end, Cassidy voted along with his 13 Republican colleagues, offering no comment on his vote at the meeting.

Whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) advances in his quest to become the top health care voice in the Trump administration could come down to one vote – that of Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana doctor is one of 14 Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee, which is scheduled to vote Feb. 4 on whether to send Kennedy’s nomination as Health and Human Services secretary to the full Senate for confirmation. If all 13 Democrats on the committee vote against it, one no vote from a Republican could stop the process.

At his confirmation hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, claimed that he is not anti-vaccine. But his record does not bear that out. Kennedy is a longstanding vaccine denier, and in 2021 was identified as one of the “Disinformation Dozen” – the 12 accounts responsible for the majority of disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines on social media platforms – by the British-American nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.

In a U.S. Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing marked by shouted protests, outbursts of applause and tense exchanges on several issues, including ones beyond the reach of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) tried to present himself as someone who follows the science, not a conspiracy theorist or anti-vaxxer.

Ocugen Inc. has received IND clearance from the FDA for OCU-500, an inhaled mucosal vaccine for COVID-19. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will sponsor and conduct a phase I trial of OCU-500 administered via inhalation into the lungs and intranasally as a spray.