Happy Friday,
This week marked a first for me as I listened in on two days of vaccine debate at the CDC while trying to do other work. I can’t say I recommend the experience.
Today we have quite the packed update, including an impasse on the Federal budget, a substantial new fee for H-1B visas, ACIP voting results, personnel changes at NIH, and news out of Texas A&M and Harvard.
The Federal budget situation grew even more contentious today, very much raising the probability of a government shutdown.
The House passed a bill this morning which would have provided a continuing resolution through November, but then the both the Republican proposal and Democrat counterproposal failed to receive the needed number of votes in the Senate.
The House is not set to vote again until after the budget deadline has passed and the Senate is not set to vote again until about 48 hours before the deadline.
The President announced a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications today, which are used extensively in the tech industry, academia, and medicine. The wording of the announcement makes it unclear if the fee also applies to current visa holders who are temporarily out of the country. I expect litigation is imminent, but its going to be a very stressful weekend.
The president also signed an executive order today establishing a $1 million “Gold Card” immigration visa.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met this week, the first meeting after the committee was reconstituted by HHS Director RFK Jr. The meeting was contentious and confusing enough that it’s still not totally clear what the implications will be, but here is how the voting went:
The committee voted to rescind their endorsement of the combined MMRV vaccine for children under 4 (though they still endorse separate MMR and varicella vaccines).
They indefinitely tabled a discussion about delaying the Hepatitis B vaccines for newborns, leaving the current recommendations in place.
They recommended limiting COVID vaccines to individuals 65 and older or those with underlying health conditions, based on an individual decision or with their doctor. A proposal for a prescription requirement was (narrowly) voted down.
Similar to the West Coast Health Alliance, ten states in northeast (plus NYC) have formed the Northeast Public Health Collaborative to coordinate public health guidelines separate from the CDC.
Multiple personnel changes at NIH were announced this week.
The director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), Helene M. Langevin, is retiring from federal service on November 30.
Jon Lorsch is stepping down as Director of NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). He will be named the Deputy Director for Extramural Research, a position he has filled in an acting capacity since April.
Erica Brown, currently the acting NIGMS deputy director, will step in as acting NIGMS director.
Nina Schor, the Deputy Director for Intramural Research, will be departing from federal service on September 30, 2025.
Currently the following NIH ICOs do not have permanent leadership: NCI, NHGRI, NIAID, NICHD, NIDCR, NIGMS, NIMH, NIMHD, NINR, NLM, CSR, the Fogarty International Center, NIICH, and the NIH Clinical Center.
The president of Texas A&M, Mark Welsh, has stepped down. This comes in the wake of the controversy about the inclusion of “gender ideology” in a literature class at the institution.
Some news out of Harvard:
The institution received its first federal grant funds in several months today, two weeks after the Administration’s freeze to awards at the university were ruled unconstitutional.
The Department of Education has placed the university on Heightened Cash Monitoring (HCM) status “following growing concerns regarding the university’s financial position”. In practice, this mostly seems to mean that the university needs to provide a letter of credit for $36 million.
In light of current events, the American Association of University Professors has released guidance for academic workers when engaging with social media.
In lighter news: This year’s Ig Nobel prizes were awarded last night. My personal favorite is the data-driven recipe for Cacio e Pepe. Forgive my editorializing, but I’ll say that my Italian surname has some harsh words about the use of powdered starch (but I’m going to try this anyway).
Today’s thumbnail was taken with a Camp Snap.