Health

Axios -  Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have said he won't take vaccines away from anyone, but that's exactly what the anti-vaccine organization he founded asked the FDA to do in a petition this week.

The formal document — which the agency is required to respond to — is part of a growing call to pull the shots from the market.

And it comes during a week when the agency said it's expanding an investigation of deaths potentially related to the shots, this time in adults.

Driving the news: Children's Health Defense, the organization founded by Kennedy, this week filed a citizen's petition asking FDA commissioner Marty Makary to deem Moderna's and Pfizer's COVID vaccines "misbranded" and revoke their licenses "due to a lack of compliance with FDA regulations."

The argument is based on the fine print surrounding the vaccines' conversion from emergency use early in the pandemic to full approval later on.
 

    It is specifically "not arguing about the safety or efficacy of marketed COVID-19 mRNA vaccines," though Children's Health Defense has also been on the forefront of arguing the vaccines are unsafe. 

In other administrations, the petition would be an extreme long shot. But Kennedy's personal ties to Children's Health Defense may improve its prospects.

Other vaccine skeptics with ties to Kennedy — a prominent critic of the shots for years before being tapped as the nation's top health official — have gradually been taking prominent roles in national vaccine discourse.  Keep reading

Health.com - Cookie dough from the brand Doughy has been recalled in 15 states due to potential Salmonella contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The product was initially recalled on Nov. 20, and last Friday, the FDA gave the recall the highest risk level—Class I—as Salmonella is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness, hospitalizations, and deaths in the U.S.1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Salmonella Infection.

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