TRACKING EMERGING VIRUSES – August 27, 2025 – COVID
“The US Food and Drug Administration approved updated Covid-19 vaccines Wednesday, but for a limited group: adults 65 and older, and younger people who are at higher risk from Covid-19.”
“Emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 vaccines are rescinded, Kennedy said Wednesday, which means Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, is no longer authorized for children younger than 5. Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine is approved for children as young as 6 months, but only if they have an underlying condition that puts them at higher risk. The FDA had already approved Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine — the only protein-based, non-mRNA vaccine available in the US — but only for people 65 and older and those 12 and up who have at least one underlying condition that puts them at higher risk of severe illness.”
“And vaccines may be accessible to healthy younger people “off-label,” Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement. However, she said, the new FDA decision “completely contradicts the evidence base, severely undermines trust in science-driven policy and dangerously limits vaccine access, removing millions of Americans’ choice to be protected and increasing the risk of severe outcomes from COVID.”” (1)
People seeking the shots will soon face another hurdle. An influential advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must vote to recommend them. But that panel’s makeup shifted when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unseated existing members, reduced the panel’s size and added some Covid vaccine opponents.
This would mark the first fall/winter season that Covid shots were not widely recommended to most people and children, pitting federal health officials in the Trump administration against several national medical groups that oppose the restrictions. (2)
“President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are allegedly planning to ban the COVID vaccine “within months,” years after Trump labeled the vaccine’s development during the pandemic as a “monumental achievement,” according to an associate of Kennedy’s comments to the Daily Beast.”
Trump said in December 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that the development of a vaccine as part of Operation Warp Speed was a “historic” success.
He commended doctors, scientists, industry executives, and state and local leaders for expediting the process and mass distributing an initiative that later garnered criticism from a portion of his political base, along with questions and concerns about the vaccine’s efficacy and potential health impacts.”
“The potential phasing out of the COVID-19 vaccine is coming in the next few months, Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist, vaccine skeptic and Kennedy associate, told the Daily Beast, adding that Kennedy’s stance is shared by “influential” members of Trump’s family.
Malhotra, a leading adviser to the lobby group MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Action, said that many of those closest to Kennedy have told him they “cannot understand” why the vaccine continues to be prescribed. The decision to remove the vaccine from the market “within months” is expected, despite the likelihood of causing “fear of chaos” and major legal ramifications, he added.
“It could [happen] in a number of stages, including learning more about the data,” Malhotra, who is not part of the Trump administration or HHS in any official capacity, said. “But given the increased talk of vaccine injuries in the past few weeks among the administration, it could also come with one clean decision.”
The White House denied Malhotra’s claims in a statement to Newsweek. (3)
“Across the United States, the return of students to college campuses during the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020 sparked widespread fears that local communities would be overwhelmed by the virus.
While some university towns experienced surges in caseloads linked to those returning students, a new study of Pullman, Washington—home to Washington State University—found that was not the case universally. Published in the journal Epidemiology, the study found “outbreaks” during the fall 2020 semester among students and in the community were largely independent and driven by cases originating from outside the area rather than local transmission. Very likely, mitigation efforts—like testing, social distancing and masks—were effective in limiting the spread of the virus.
“Going forward, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate the type and extent of transmission before deciding to shut down educational programs,” said Erin Clancey, a research professor and quantitative biologist in WSU’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Health who served as co-lead author for the study. “We found that mitigation efforts were effective and can allow schools and universities to keep operating safely.””
“Using advanced mathematical models, Clancey and colleagues analyzed case data from Whitman County to estimate transmission rates within and between the student and community subpopulations and the extent of cross-transmission.”
““The data show that the outbreaks among students and the community were largely separate and happened at different times,” Clancey said. “What we found is there was transmission in each population, but across them, it was very, very minimal.”” (4)
Long COVID is more than fatigue. Our new study suggests its impact is similar to a stroke or Parkinson’s, https://theconversation.com/long-covid-is-more-than-fatigue-our-new-study-suggests-its-impact-is-similar-to-a-stroke-or-parkinsons-263623
Nationwide Study Led by Drexel Researchers Develops Most Effective Predictor of Severe COVID-19, https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2025/August/Most-effective-predictor-of-severe-covid-19
Health Secretary Tries to Oust C.D.C. Director, but She Refuses to Leave, by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Apoorva Mandavilli and Christina Jewett, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/27/us/trump-news?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
1.FDA approves updated Covid-19 vaccines for limited groups as US cases continue to rise, By Jamie Gumbrecht, Deidre McPhillips and Brenda Goodman, https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/health/covid-vaccines-fda
2.F.D.A. Approves Covid Shots With New Restrictions, By Christina Jewett and Jacey Fortin, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/health/fda-covid-vaccines-rfk-jr.html
3.RFK Jr. May Roll Back Major Achievement Donald Trump Called ‘Monumental’, By Nick Mordowanec, https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rfk-covid-vaccine-hhs-2118816
4.Study suggests returning students didn’t drive COVID-19 outbreaks in town, by Devin Rokyta, https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-students-didn’t-covid-outbreaks-town.html
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai