‘These are needless deaths’: Vaccine misinformation will lead to more deaths from measles outbreak, ousted US scientist tells Sky News

Published

7 months ago

May 7, 2025

admin

America’s ousted vaccine chief has told Sky News there will be more deaths from a growing measles outbreak unless the US government shifts its rhetoric on vaccination.

“Ultimately, they’re not gonna be able to run from reality,” said Dr Peter Marks, former head of vaccines at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dr Marks also echoed concerns among public health experts that the federal administration’s stance on vaccinations and cuts to global health initiatives could make the world, including America, more vulnerable to other preventable diseases.

There have been 935 confirmed cases of measles in the US, with outbreaks in six states and cases reported in 23 others.

There are also related outbreaks in Mexico and Canada, which share links to the Mennonite religious community in which the US outbreak took hold.

Dr Marks was forced to resign as the director of the FDA’s Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research in March after clashing with incoming US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over his stance on vaccines and scientific evidence.

RFK Jr has come under intense criticism from public health experts after continuing, despite the outbreak, to endorse alternative and unproven ways to prevent and treat measles.

Secretary Kennedy has since publicly endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as the safest and most effective way of preventing measles.

But at the same time, he has continued to criticise the MMR jab.

MMR – one of the safest and most well-studied vaccines in history – is credited with virtually eliminating measles in the US and much of the developed world in the early 21st century.

Uptake of the vaccine is now falling.

On Friday, as the latest data confirmed measles cases continued to rise, Secretary Kennedy instructed the federal agencies to review the use of alternative drugs in combination with vitamins for the treatment of measles and other diseases.

In an interview the same day, while maintaining he is not opposed to vaccination, Secretary Kennedy repeated erroneous claims that the MMR jab contains “aborted foetus debris and DNA particles”.

‘These are needless deaths’

Three people have died in the US outbreak so far, two of them children. None had been vaccinated against measles.

“It’s fully appropriate to say that these are needless deaths,” said Dr Marks. “And we’re going to be having more of those if this measles outbreak continues to spread.”

He also believes public health experts need to get better at preventing “misleading information and lies” around vaccination to take hold.

“We have yet to find the kind of active, unified voice that we need to say: ‘hey guys, stop this stuff’,” said Marks.

“These people over there, they’re entitled to their opinion, but they don’t have to harm your kids by broadcasting it.”

He is careful not to directly criticise the man who forced him from his position at the FDA, urging him, instead, to listen to reason.

“To consider alternative viewpoints from those who have a lot of knowledge and experience,” said Marks.

‘A sad day for America’s children’

Others are less cautious about criticising RFK Jr: Paul Offit, a vaccinologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said: “When he was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, I think that was a sad day for America’s children.

“He has for 20 years been a virulent anti-vaccine activist, science denialist and conspiracy theorist.”

Prof Offit is also concerned about his impact on the rest of the world.

“We export our fears and I think with social media now, it’s much easier to amplify those fears.”

Uptake of the MMR jab is falling in the UK and parts of the EU. Cases of measles have increased there too but, with the exception of Romania, to a lesser extent than in the US.

An increase in measles, one of the most infectious diseases known to science, is often “an early warning sign” of falling vaccination rates more widely, according to the head of the UK’s vaccine advisory committee, Prof Andrew Pollard.

“Just as we’ve seen whooping cough outbreaks here in the UK over the last couple of years,” said Pollard.

“It’s not just MMR where the [vaccination] rates are lower, it’s also other vaccines where we’re not getting such high coverage.”

According to the World Health Organisation, 138 countries have reported measles cases with 61 experiencing large outbreaks. The highest number globally since 2019.

The situation could now get worse after the Trump administration froze the US annual contribution to the WHO, which stood at $960bn last year and has threatened to cut $300m for the global vaccine alliance (GAVI).

“That money not coming through for our next strategic cycle would mean that we will be unable to vaccinate about 75 million children,” said Sania Nishtar, CEO of GAVI.

According to GAVI, that could lead to well over a million additional child deaths over the next five years from diseases like Malaria, meningitis and yellow fever.

GAVI is urging the US administration to reconsider a funding cut, in part because US businesses manufacture many of the vaccines it supplies, but also because it keeps the US safe.

“We are the only agency in the world that maintains the stockpiles of vaccines,” said Nishtar.

“If there’s an Ebola outbreak anywhere in the world, we would be the ones mobilising the stockpiles to ensure that the outbreak is contained. There and then, preventing it from reaching American shores.”

Dr Marks predicts that the administration will be forced to shift its stance if the outbreak continues to grow and vaccine-hesitant Americans begin to witness the typically unseen impact vaccinations have.

He said: “As the deaths start to crank up, public opinion will certainly change because they will see once again what happens when people around them are dying or getting very sick.”

US

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

Published

3 hours ago

November 28, 2025

admin

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

The US will review green cards issued to the citizens of 19 countries after two members of the National Guard were shot by a suspected Afghan gunman in Washington DC.

Immigration from Afghanistan has also been suspended indefinitely, the White House said, following the double shooting on Wednesday.

Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), revealed the order from President Trump.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

Asked which countries would be affected, USCIS pointed to a presidential proclamation from June listing 19 countries.

The proclamation sought to “fully restrict” arrivals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

It also “partially” restricted arrivals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the suspected gunman in this week’s shooting and has been detained.

He worked as part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, and reportedly came to the States under a programme meant to help Afghans who’d risked their lives assisting US troops in Afghanistan.

He’s thought to have driven thousands of miles to the capital from his home in Washington state, where he lives with his wife and five children.

Attorney general Pam Bondi called him “a lone gunman” who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style”.

President Trump described him as a “savage monster”.

He was granted asylum in April this year, according to NBC News.

One of his victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her wounds, while the other, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in a critical condition.

Lakanwal reportedly came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome, a programme enacted by former President Joe Biden after he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Edlow explictly targeted the previous president as he announced the new green card regime.

He wrote on X: “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”

Speaking after the attack, President Trump was even more caustic.

He said: “The suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.

“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.

“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden – a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”

👉 Tap here to follow Trump100 wherever you get your podcasts👈

He continued: “This attack underscores the greatest national security threat facing our nation.

“The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t even want to know about.

“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”

US

Trump says one of National Guard members shot in Washington DC has died

Published

15 hours ago

November 27, 2025

admin

Trump says one of National Guard members shot in Washington DC has died

One of the National Guard members shot in Washington DC on Wednesday has died from her injuries, Donald Trump has said.

The president said 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom had “just passed away” and called her a “highly respected” and “magnificent person”.

The other person who was shot, Andrew Wolfe, 24, is in a critical condition. The pair were ambushed while patrolling near the White House.

Ms Beckstrom’s father had earlier told The New York Times she was unlikely to survive and he was “holding her hand”.

The suspected gunman, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is in a serious condition, Mr Trump told reporters.

He drove thousands of miles from his home in Washington state to carry out the attack with a powerful Magnum revolver, according to US attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Lakanwal is said to have worked in a CIA-backed Afghan army unit before coming to the US in 2021 under a resettlement programme designed to protect people from Taliban reprisals.

His asylum application was passed this year.

Investigators are treating it as terrorism and searched multiple properties on Thursday, including one linked to Lankanwal in Washington state, where the FBI seized electronic devices and interviewed relatives.

Lakanwal has a wife and five children family, but Washington DC police said he appeared to have acted alone.

Ms Beckstrom, part of the West Virginia National Guard, had been deployed as part of the president’s plan to clamp down on what he says are high levels of crime and illegal immigration in some US cities.

Mr Trump ordered 500 extra troops into the capital after the shooting, joining about 2,200 already there.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

US

Washington DC shooting suspect is Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit

Published

24 hours ago

November 27, 2025

admin

Washington DC shooting suspect is Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit

The suspect who opened fire on two National Guard soldiers just blocks from the White House is an Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, according to officials.

He worked with “the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar” during the US-led war in the country, CIA director John Ratcliffe has said.

The suspect, who has been pictured for the first time, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested.

He was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.

Attorney general Pam Bondi said the US government plans to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum”.

“A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” she told reporters.

US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro identified the two wounded Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.

She said they had been sworn in as National Guard members fewer than 24 hours before the shooting.

Ms Pirro said the suspect ambushed them while they were patrolling near the White House. He shot one Guardsman who fell and then shot again before firing multiple times at the second Guardsman with the Magnum handgun.

Numerous electronic devices seized from suspect’s home

The suspect “drove his vehicle cross-country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” Ms Pirro said.

The FBI searched multiple properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism probe into the DC shooting.

Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, FBI director Kash Patel told a news conference.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle Afghans who assisted the US during the war and feared reprisals from the Taliban after the withdrawal.

An unnamed relative of the suspect has said that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US Special Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon.com the last time they spoke several months ago, according to Sky’s US partner NBC News.

A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity has said that Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April of this year.

Lakanwal had no known criminal history, the official said.

US President Donald Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.

He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who arrived in the US during the presidency of his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has said it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols”.

In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president requested an additional 500 National Guard troops to bolster the more than 2,000 already deployed in the nation’s capital.

In August, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city to combat rising crime, a move that drew objections from District of Columbia officials who argued in court that it violated local authority.