RFK Jr. Offers Drug Companies Covid-Era Protections in Work on Hantavirus Cure

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing backlash from members of his Make American Healthy Again movement after declaring the hantavirus a credible risk for a future public health emergency and offering temporary liability protection to companies trying to develop treatments and vaccines.Mr. Kennedy is using the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act to authorize his declaration. The order — published in the Federal Register — will go into effect on Wednesday.It covers individuals and companies against any claims related to the manufacture, distribution, administration, or use of medical countermeasures, except for claims involving “willfulmisconduct.” Countermeasures can include drugs or medical devices developed to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure a disease.The order specifically covers favipiravir, an experimental synthetic antiviral medication that received emergency approval in Italy, Japan, and several other countries during the pandemic for the treatment of the coronavirus. It is being considered as a potential treatment for hantavirus.The order also approves a compensation program to provide benefits to individuals or their estates who sustain a serious physical injury as a direct result of treatment covered by the order.The move comes after an outbreak of Andes virus — a type of hantavirus spread by rodents in South America — infected eight passengers on a cruise ship. The virus can cause a severe respiratory disease that has about a 40 percent fatality rate. Three passengers associated with the cruise ship outbreak have died.While the hantavirus has sparked concern, an Ebola outbreak in Africa has caused hundreds of cases and at least 87 deaths. The strain that is spreading has no vaccine and the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has implemented temporary travel restrictions on three African countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Sudan.Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person. This spread is usually limited to people who have close contact with a sick person. This includes direct physical contact, prolonged time spent in close or enclosed spaces, and exposure to the sick person’s body fluids.The Food and Drug Administration has not approved any treatments or vaccines for the Andes strain, either for investigational or emergency use.The immunity order is in effect until July 18 but could be extended.Mr. Kennedy had been highly critical of the emergency act’s use during the pandemic to shield pharmaceutical companies developing Covid vaccines. His similar authorization was met with swift condemnation from MAHA supporters who have been outspoken opponents of Big Pharma.“Bobby, I remember so many inspiring strategy discussions during your campaign,” the former communication’s director for Mr. Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign, Del Bigtree, posted on X. “Providing liability protection to corporate interests for a virus that killed 3 people out of 7 billion was not one of them.”“What in the world?!!!” the founder for Americans for Health Freedom, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, said.“I will NOT be taking the US Army’s Andes virus DNA gene therapy injection,” an epidemiologist and McCullough Foundation administrator, Nicolas Hulscher, said.The rodents that carry Andes virus have not been found in the United States but the government has repatriated 18 passengers from the cruise ship where the outbreak spread. They have been quarantined in a Nebraska hospital since returning to America.

RFK Jr. Offers Drug Companies Covid-Era Protections in Work on Hantavirus Cure

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