Bob Park’s What’s New: October 31, 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, October 31, 2025
1. THE NEW ACIP HAS PROBLEMS
Former members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices published an article in the journal Vaccine this week (Volume 67, Article Number 127876). They analyzed the September meeting of ACIP — held with new members appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — and concluded that “The September 2025 ACIP meeting revealed significant challenges to the integrity of US vaccine policy. The meeting exposed concerning gaps in transparency, independence, and relevant expertise, thereby eroding confidence in the scientific rigor ACIP is expected to uphold… To maintain public trust and ensure effective immunization policy, ACIP must restore rigorous, evidence-based, and independent decision making.” Although I can’t do much to reverse the decline of the CDC, I can thank these former members of ACIP for publishing their paper. As voting members they contributed substantially to public health, and their presence on ACIP will be missed. We should all be grateful for their efforts to keep our nation healthy.
2. STATE OF CLIMATE ACTION 2025
Last week the State of Climate Action 2025 report was published. It does not contain much good news. We’re not on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C. With the loss of US leadership on climate change, the outlook is grim. I’ve not lost all hope, but the odds of avoiding a climate catastrophe are against us. Here’s information from the website where you can download the report: “Published ahead of COP30, the State of Climate Action 2025 translates the Paris Agreement temperature goal into actionable targets for 2030, 2035 and 2050 across the world’s highest-emitting sectors — power, buildings, industry, transport, forests and land, and food and agriculture — as well as specifies how quickly technological carbon dioxide and climate finance must scale up. It then assesses recent progress made towards these global benchmarks, highlighting where — and by how much — efforts must accelerate this decade. This report card, the fifth in the State of Climate Action series, finds that, while the ten years following the adoption of the Paris Agreement have seen the transition to net-zero emissions take off, there’s still a long way to go. Across every single sector, climate action has failed to materialize at the pace and scale required to achieve the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal. None of the 45 indicators assessed are on track to reach their 1.5°C-aligned targets by the end of this decade.”
3. MRNA VACCINES HELP TREAT CANCER
And now for something completely different… how about some good news? An article published this week in Nature indicates that commercially available mRNA Covid vaccines train a patient’s immune system to kill cancer cells. People being treated for some deadly cancers lived longer if they received an mRNA vaccine. This paper is open access so anyone can read it online here. Just as anti-science forces are criticizing mRNA vaccines and blocking mRNA research, science has shown they are better than we thought. Abandoning mRNA vaccines now would delay or stop important advances in cancer treatment and would therefore be a terrible mistake. Perhaps that statement is too dire. Try this instead: If the US abandons mRNA vaccines, the next great advance in cancer treatment may be developed in Canada, or France, or Australia, or…China?
4. WILL CASEY MEANS BE SURGEON GENERAL?
Dr. Casey Means has been nominated by President Trump to be Surgeon General. Yesterday she was supposed to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee as part of the confirmation process. However, her appearance has been delayed because she went into labor. What’s New wishes mother and child much health and happiness. What’s New also hopes that Means will not be confirmed as Surgeon General. Christy Harrison, who produces the Rethinking Wellness podcast, wrote last November that Means “rose to prominence fairly recently, alongside her brother, Calley, an entrepreneur whose company enables tax-free HSA/FSA spending on many unproven supplements and devices, and who has consulted for right-wing organizations like the Heritage Foundation. Casey originally trained as a head and neck surgeon before dropping out of residency to specialize in functional medicine — a specialty that promotes many dubious diets and supplements that aren’t supported by scientific evidence.”
5. THE MARCH FOR HEALTH AND SCIENCE
The 911 March for Health and Science will be held this Wednesday in Washington, DC. More information is available at the organizer’s website, which states “The march begins immediately after the American Public Health Association’s Rally for America’s Health, which is on November 5th from 2:30–4:00 PM on the National Mall, at 7th Street SW. The march proceeds from the rally to the Capitol, where we will hold a press conference and present boxes of petitions demanding RFK Jr.’s resignation. We encourage all marchers to attend the rally and invite all rally attendees to join the march.” I won’t be able to attend in person, but What’s New will certainly be there in spirit. Thank you to all those who march for science.