Bob Park’s What’s New: September 19, 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, September 19, 2025
1. THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES WEIGHS IN ON CLIMATE CHANGE
On Wednesday the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued a report saying that the evidence for climate change is “beyond scientific dispute.” Their conclusion contrasts with that of the bogus Department of Energy report issued in July, which downplayed climate change. The National Academies report concludes “Much of the understanding of climate change that was uncertain or tentative in 2009 [when the Environmental Protection Agency issued its endangerment finding] is now resolved and new threats have been identified. These new threats and the areas of remaining uncertainty are under intensive investigation by the scientific community. The United States faces a future in which climate-induced harm continues to worsen and today’s extremes become tomorrow’s norms.”
2. STATES ARE ACTING TO PROTECT VACCINE ACCESS
I live in Michigan, so I was delighted on Wednesday when Governor Gretchen Whitmer (we call her “Big Gretch”) signed an executive directive to ensure vaccines remain available. In particular, she instructed state agencies to identify and remove any barriers to accessing COVID-19 vaccines (I got my COVID and flu shots on Sunday, because I was worried about the upcoming Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting this week). Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive (I’m a big fan), said that “It is incredibly important for Michiganders to get vaccinated this cold, flu, and COVID-19 season. Protecting ourselves from cold, flu, and COVID-19 also protects our loved ones, our hospitals, health care workers, and so many more.” More and more states are taking a similar approach. It appears that the CDC is becoming irrelevant and states are deciding their own paths. In a perfect world, I would be worried if each state had its own rules about health care. But in the era of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., I support this patchwork approach wholeheartedly. At least Michigan still believes in science.
3. MONAREZ TESTIFIES BEFORE THE SENATE
On Wednesday (it was a busy day!) the former director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Susan Monarez, testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. In August, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired Monarez. Here are some quotes from her testimony: “He [RFK Jr] was very upset. He called CDC the most corrupt federal agency in the world, emphasized that CDC employees were horrible people. He said that CDC employees were killing children and they don’t care.” “On the morning of August 25, Secretary Kennedy demanded two things of me that were inconsistent with my oath of office and the ethics required of a public official. He directed me to commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation regardless of the scientific evidence. He also directed me to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy, without cause. He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign.” “I believe preventable diseases will return, and I believe we will have our children harmed by things they don’t need to be harmed by.”
4. ACIP IS MEETING AS WHAT’S NEW GOES TO PRESS
As I mentioned earlier, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets this week, specifically on Thursday and Friday (they are meeting as this week’s issue of What’s New is posted on the internet). The committee includes five new members appointed on Monday. Most ACIP members are now Kennedy loyalists with questionable scientific and medical backgrounds. On Thursday, the ACIP voted to change the policy so that the combined MMRV (measles, mumps, and rubella, plus chickenpox) vaccine is not recommended for children until age four. Younger children can still get the MMR vaccine separate from the chickenpox vaccine. There was some confusion about how this would affect the federal Vaccines for Children Program. This decision, while not itself earth-shattering in importance, appears to have been made with little evidence to support it. The real question is if it is a harbinger of things to come. Tomorrow, the committee will consider COVID and hepatitis vaccines. These ACIP meetings — full of controversy and live streamed on the internet — have become the scientific version of the O. J. Simpson trial. What’s New suspects that RFK Jr is instructing the ACIP “If vaccines aren’t legit, you must omit.”