内容摘要：. “If your child becomes sick with measles, doctors will do everything we can to care for them, but the truth is we do not have effective treatments against this viral infection.”

. “If your child becomes sick with measles, doctors will do everything we can to care for them, but the truth is we do not have effective treatments against this viral infection.”

The delay of that letter may seem minor. But it is one in a string of missteps that more than a dozen doctors, nurses and public health officials interviewed by The Associated Press identified in the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak.efforts to contain an epidemic in a tight-knit, religious community in West Texas have run counter to established public health strategies deployed to end past epidemics.

“What we are lacking now is one, clear strong voice — from the federal to the state to the local — saying that the vaccine is the only thing that will prevent measles,” said Patricia Stinchfield, a nurse practitioner and infectious disease expert who helped stop a 2017 measles outbreak in Minnesota’s Somali community.Behind the scenes, Kennedy has not been regularly briefed in person on the outbreak by his own infectious disease experts at the CDC at least through March 21, according to Kevin Griffis, a career staffer who worked as the agency’s communications director until he resigned that day.Even after the measles claimed its

in late February, Kennedy had still not been briefed by CDC staff, Griffis said. His account was confirmed by a second former federal health official, who resigned at the end of February.A spokesperson for Kennedy did not answer specific written questions about how he had been briefed or his communications with CDC staff.

The spokesperson said the CDC activated an Atlanta-based response in early February to provide overall guidance on measles testing and vaccination strategy. An on-the-ground team was deployed to West Texas throughout most of March and withdrawn on April 1.

It was a “joint decision” between state and federal officials to send the team home, CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said. Another team of seven was dispatched back to the region this week.As the FDA’s top official overseeing vaccines, Prasad is now in position to reverse what he recently called “a number of missteps” in how the FDA assessed the benefits and risks of COVID-19 boosters.

He questioned how much benefit yearly vaccinations continue to offer. In a podcast shortly before assuming his FDA job, Prasad suggested companies could study about 20,000 older adults in August or September to show if an updated vaccine prevented COVID-related hospitalizations.There is “legitimate debate about who should be boosted, how frequently they should be boosted and the value of boosting low-risk individuals,” said Hopkins’ Adalja. But he stressed that CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has the proper expertise to be making those decisions.

And other experts say simply updating the strain that a COVID-19 vaccine targets doesn’t make it a new product — and real-world data shows each fall’s update has offered benefit.“The data are clear and compelling” that vaccination reduces seniors’ risk of hospitalization and serious illness for four to six months, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease researcher.