https://www.scmp.com/rss/522239/feed The latest news and top stories on Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. A prominent US federal agency, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It serves as the national public health agency, dedicated to protecting public health and safety by controlling and preventing disease, injury, and disability globally. Its main activities include combating emerging infectious diseases, promoting environmental health, occupational safety, and... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com SCMP Editorial SCMP Editorial Vaccine scepticism is as old as the disease-fighting jabs themselves, but recently it has been a subplot in the political drama in the United States. Now, even globally respected advice from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has been changed. Understandably, many Hong Kong parents have been left confused after the US rolled back a long-standing recommendation for a universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Instead of being a routine mandatory shot, it is now listed as a... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/comment/article/3342609/hong-kong-right-hold-line-against-us-vaccine-scepticism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/comment/article/3342609/hong-kong-right-hold-line-against-us-vaccine-scepticism?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Feb 2026 22:45:07 +0000 Oscar Liu Oscar Liu Hong Kong health authorities have warned parents not to “blindly follow” overseas changes to childhood immunisation schedules, including for the hepatitis B birth dose, after the United States scaled back routine vaccine recommendations for infants. The city’s Centre for Health Protection issued the warning on Wednesday in response to a controversial overhaul by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3341491/dont-blindly-follow-us-changes-infant-vaccines-hong-kong-tells-parents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3341491/dont-blindly-follow-us-changes-infant-vaccines-hong-kong-tells-parents?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jan 2026 03:34:40 +0000 Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Let us be clear: the primary reason to be vaccinated against shingles – a virus that causes a painful rash – is that two jabs provide at least 90 per cent protection against a painful, blistering disease that a third of people in America will suffer in their lifetimes, and a similar number in Hong Kong. It can cause lingering nerve pain and other nasty long-term consequences. Meanwhile, the most important reason for older adults to be vaccinated against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) is that... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3340363/hidden-benefits-common-vaccines-including-reduced-dementia-and-heart-risks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3340363/hidden-benefits-common-vaccines-including-reduced-dementia-and-heart-risks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jan 2026 04:44:38 +0000 Reuters Reuters A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that several major medical organisations can move forward with their lawsuit challenging policies adopted under US Health Secretary Robert ‌F. Kennedy Jnr that they say will lower vaccination rates. US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston rejected ‍arguments by lawyers for US President Donald Trump’s administration that the groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, lack legal standing to pursue the case because they could not show they were harmed by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338967/judge-allows-lawsuit-against-rfk-jnrs-covid-19-vaccine-policies-proceed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338967/judge-allows-lawsuit-against-rfk-jnrs-covid-19-vaccine-policies-proceed?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:00:09 +0000 Reuters Reuters A group of vaccine advisers on Friday scrapped a long-standing recommendation that all US children receive the hepatitis B shot at birth, a major policy win for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr that disease experts say will reverse decades of public health gains. The committee voted to keep the birth dose only for infants whose mothers test positive for the virus, replacing the 1991 universal recommendation that has protected all children from hepatitis B infections, which can lead to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3335421/us-vaccine-advisers-say-not-all-newborns-need-hepatitis-b-shot-win-rfk-jnr?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3335421/us-vaccine-advisers-say-not-all-newborns-need-hepatitis-b-shot-win-rfk-jnr?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Dec 2025 17:00:03 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Political purges, funding cuts and a growing hostility towards expertise have unsettled the US research community, evoking memories among Chinese-Americans of a dark chapter in Chinese history and prompting some to look to China for stability. The Cultural Revolution, launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 to eliminate “bourgeois” influence and consolidate his power, plunged China into turmoil. Factories and schools were shut down while scholars were denounced and exiled for “re-education”. The upheaval... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3329862/us-fuels-brain-drain-china-trumps-anti-science-cultural-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3329862/us-fuels-brain-drain-china-trumps-anti-science-cultural-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:00:10 +0000 Jiang Chuqin,Leopold Chen Jiang Chuqin,Leopold Chen The death of a 13-year-old girl from the flu over the weekend after failing to get vaccinated has raised alarm bells over the seriousness of the disease in Hong Kong. Some health experts warned on Tuesday that the existing flu season is expected to continue into November and urged the public to get vaccinated as a preventive measure. The Post looks at the different types of flu circulating in the city, what health experts say and how residents can protect themselves. What is influenza B? How is... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3328927/how-differentiate-types-flu-hong-kong-and-how-protect-yourself?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3328927/how-differentiate-types-flu-hong-kong-and-how-protect-yourself?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 06:46:18 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse India has issued a health alert after infections and deaths caused by a rare waterborne “brain-eating” amoeba doubled compared to last year in the southern state of Kerala. Numbers are still tiny but Altaf Ali, a doctor who is part of a government task force to arrest the spread, told AFP that officials were “conducting tests on a large scale across the state to detect and treat cases”. Officials reported 19 deaths and 72 infections of the Naegleria fowleri amoeba this year, including nine... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3326000/india-health-alert-brain-eating-amoeba-rise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3326000/india-health-alert-brain-eating-amoeba-rise?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Sep 2025 09:34:17 +0000 Reuters Reuters The assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk marks a watershed moment in a surge of US political violence, one that some experts fear will inflame an already-fractured country and inspire more unrest. “This event is horrifying, alarming, but not necessarily surprising,” said Mike Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, which has tracked such violence in a terrorism database since 1970. In the first six months of the year, the US experienced about 150 politically-motivated... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3325165/charlie-kirk-killing-watershed-moment-us-political-violence-rises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3325165/charlie-kirk-killing-watershed-moment-us-political-violence-rises?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:44:42 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jnr’s family are calling for him to step down as health secretary following a contentious congressional hearing this past week, during which the Trump cabinet official faced bipartisan questioning about his tumultuous leadership of federal health agencies. Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, issued scathing statements on Friday, calling for him to resign as head of the Health and Human Services Department. The calls from the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324624/rfk-jnrs-family-members-say-hes-threat-americans-health-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324624/rfk-jnrs-family-members-say-hes-threat-americans-health-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Sep 2025 19:18:43 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr said on Thursday that firing a top government scientist was “absolutely necessary”, as he faced blistering criticism from Democrats urging him to resign over his steps to curb vaccines. The Senate hearing, marked by sharp exchanges that often erupted into shouting matches, came days after the ousting of Sue Monarez, the former director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her dismissal, accompanied by several high-level resignations... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324395/rfk-jnr-defends-cdc-shake-democrats-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324395/rfk-jnr-defends-cdc-shake-democrats-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 17:49:44 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Nine former leaders of the top US health body sounded the alarm on Monday about the Trump administration’s evisceration of the agency and warned that vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jnr is “endangering every American’s health”. The blunt guest essay in The New York Times marked the latest in snowballing attacks on the US health secretary after the director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention was recently fired by US President Donald Trump after just weeks in her post. Susan... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323972/rfk-jnr-endangering-all-americans-health-agency-ex-leaders-warn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323972/rfk-jnr-endangering-all-americans-health-agency-ex-leaders-warn?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Sep 2025 17:41:52 +0000 Reuters Reuters US CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired on Wednesday after resisting changes to vaccine policy that were advanced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr and that she believed contradicted scientific evidence, a close associate said on Thursday. The revelation and interviews with top officials who resigned in the wake of the director’s firing underscored the growing division over the US approach to public health and the upheaval at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which protects... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323561/fired-us-cdc-director-clashed-kennedy-vaccine-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323561/fired-us-cdc-director-clashed-kennedy-vaccine-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:29:33 +0000 Reuters Reuters US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez has been fired, the White House said on Wednesday, less than a month after being sworn in, and four senior officials have resigned amid growing tensions over vaccine policies and public health directives. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jnr has made sweeping changes to vaccine policies, including withdrawing federal recommendations for Covid shots for pregnant women and healthy children in May, and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323410/us-cdc-director-susan-monarez-out-after-less-month-job?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323410/us-cdc-director-susan-monarez-out-after-less-month-job?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Aug 2025 22:31:11 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press At least 600 employees of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are receiving permanent termination notices in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from lay-offs but not others. The notices went out this week and many people have not yet received them, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members at the CDC. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday did... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3322581/least-600-cdc-employees-are-getting-final-termination-notices-union-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3322581/least-600-cdc-employees-are-getting-final-termination-notices-union-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:06:40 +0000 Zhao Ziwen Zhao Ziwen A senior Chinese official has visited the epicentre of the country’s chikungunya fever outbreak, as the number of cases of the mosquito-borne virus rises. Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong visited the southern city of Foshan in Guangdong province earlier in the week, urging authorities to “strictly implement port health quarantine measures”, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. Liu told city authorities to “improve prevention and control measures”, “effectively eliminate mosquitoes” and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3320531/senior-chinese-official-urges-southern-city-stamp-out-chikungunya-spread-amid-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3320531/senior-chinese-official-urges-southern-city-stamp-out-chikungunya-spread-amid-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2025 08:00:22 +0000 Laura Tyson,Lenny Mendonca Laura Tyson,Lenny Mendonca Less than six months into his second term, US President Donald Trump and his team have managed to inflict substantial damage on the US and global economy. From deploying often-violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents against immigrants to imposing or threatening large tariffs and indiscriminately firing government staff, the administration has introduced volatility, undermining business and consumer confidence. It is worth remembering that Trump inherited a strong economy with... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3316975/trumps-big-beautiful-spending-plan-will-only-worsen-us-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3316975/trumps-big-beautiful-spending-plan-will-only-worsen-us-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Jul 2025 21:30:08 +0000