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    CDC is slashing funding for states’ childhood vaccination data systems

    news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 6 July - 19:12

A boy smiles as he gets a measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination.

Enlarge / A boy smiles as he gets a measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination. (credit: Getty | Robyn Beck )

State health departments are facing federal budget cuts to programs that support childhood vaccination, which are coming at a time when immunization rates among children are slipping and under threat from anti-vaccine rhetoric.

News of the budget cuts was first reported by KFF Health News , which obtained a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention email dated June 27 that informed states of future funding reductions. The email, addressed to state immunization managers and signed by two CDC officials, said that the cuts will be "a significant change to your budget."

"There will be no easy solution for this," the CDC email read. "We know that this change will require some tough decisions."

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    Anti-vaccine group sues Facebook, claims fact-checking is “censorship”

    news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 18 August, 2020 - 20:39

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., heads up to a meeting at Trump Tower on January 10, 2017 in New York City.

Enlarge / Robert F. Kennedy Jr., heads up to a meeting at Trump Tower on January 10, 2017 in New York City. (credit: Spencer Platt | Getty Images )

A notorious anti-vaccine group spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed suit today in federal court in California alleging that Facebook's fact-checking program for false scientific or medical misinformation violates its constitutional rights.

Children's Health Defense claims in its suit ( PDF ) that Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the organizations Science Feedback, Poynter, and PolitiFact acted "jointly or in concert with federal government agencies" to infringe on CHD's First and Fifth Amendment rights. The suit also alleges Facebook and the fact-checking organizations colluded to commit wire fraud by "clearing the field" of anti-vaccine ads.

Facebook has "insidious conflicts with the pharmaceutical industry and its captive health agencies," CHD claimed in a press release. "Facebook currently censors Children’s Health Defense’s page, targeting its purge against factual information about vaccines, 5G and public health agencies."

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