Bob Park’s What’s New: May 30, 2025
No, Bob Park — the physicist who wrote the What’s New newsletter for years — did not write this. Instead, I am imagining what Park would have said were he alive today. The opinions are mine and not necessarily those of Bob Park (but they should be).
What’s New, by Bob Park
Friday, May 30, 2025
1. THAT NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE IS CORRUPT!
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said on the “Ultimate Human” podcast that he plans to stop government scientists from publishing in certain journals. I know what you’re thinking: he must be talking about those predatory journals who charge big fees and skimp on peer review. But, no. He is talking about the most respected medical journals in the world: Lancet, JAMA, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He says they’re all corrupt. You heard that right: NEJM is “corrupt”! How’s that for the pot calling the kettle black?
2. WHO GETS TO DECIDE VACCINE POLICY?
This week, RFK Jr announced via Twitter that Covid vaccines have been removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women. There was no consultation with the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (the ACIP), no supporting documentation, no careful deliberation among medical professionals. It was just an announcement by one of the disinformation dozen that we are changing policy. As epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina says: “Vaccine decisions must be rooted in evidence, debate, and transparency.” That’s no longer the case.3. MAHA
This week the White House released the Make America Healthy Again report to examine the “root causes of deteriorating child health.” The problem is, it cites references that don’t exist! This is a common problem with AI-generated reports, as many college professors know. Apparently there was not much peer-review of this report. And what’s with the claim that modern medicine doesn’t examine the “root causes” of illness? Anyone who has reviewed grant proposals for the National Institutes of Health (at least, the old NIH before the recent administration took over) knows how the grants focus on testing of hypotheses to determine root causes. That’s what science does. It’s just the opposite of the MAHA approach.
4. mRNA
What’s the most important development in vaccine research in decades? Clearly it’s using mRNA technology to quickly produce new vaccines. Yet, this week RFK Jr canceled a $590 million contract with vaccine manufacturer Moderna to use mRNA technology to create vaccines for emerging flu strains (like the bird flu). Kennedy is a long-time critic of mRNA technology (don’t mess with my DNA!). Does anyone see a pattern emerging in this week’s newsletter? Senator Cassidy, is this what you had in mind when you voted to confirm Kennedy as Secretary of HHS?