Popular News

• 

  • 菲律賓國旗

  Trump orders overhaul of US childhood vaccine schedule, drawing medical concerns

  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to reshape the US childhood vaccination schedule, including reducing the number of vaccines broadly recommended for children and spreading vaccinations across multiple medical visits. The move represents a major shift in federal vaccine policy and follows months of pressure from Trump on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to revise existing recommendations.Under the new policy, vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and chickenpox would remain broadly recommended. Hepatitis A and B, meningococcal and dengue vaccines would primarily be recommended for higher-risk children, while some vaccines, including those for influenza, Covid-19 and rotavirus, would involve discussions between parents and health care providers.The order also calls for the MMR vaccine to be offered as three separate shots, although separate versions are not currently commercially available in the US. HHS is expected to work with manufacturers and develop a plan within 90 days. Trump also argued that vaccinations should be spaced further apart, but the administration has not provided scientific evidence supporting claims that children receive unsafe amounts of vaccines.The policy immediately drew criticism from medical professionals and lawmakers. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician, said vaccines are broadly safe and effective and warned that separating vaccines could require children to receive more injections and increase vaccine hesitancy. Medical groups also expressed concerns that changes to federal recommendations could affect insurance coverage and increase costs for families. Scientific studies have found no evidence linking vaccines to autism.

  2026-08-15 09:00
• 

  • 菲律賓國旗

  Australia to Vaccinate Birds as H5 Bird Flu Threat Expands

  Australia is stepping up efforts to contain the spread of H5 avian influenza by launching a vaccination program for birds considered particularly vulnerable to the highly pathogenic virus. Authorities said captive birds will be the top priority, while vaccination of some wild birds will be carried out where practical. The move follows Australia's first reported mass deaths of native seabirds linked to H5 bird flu last week.Australia detected its first H5 avian influenza case in June, when the virus was found in a migratory bird. As of August 10, authorities had reported 231 confirmed or suspected positive H5 cases. No infections have so far been detected in Australia's poultry industry or agricultural production. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins warned that the country should prepare for further outbreaks and additional bird deaths as the virus continues to spread.Environment Minister Murray Watt said vaccinating wild birds would be difficult because they require two doses. Capturing a wild bird once is already challenging, he said, making repeated vaccination even harder. The government will therefore focus first on captive birds, while vaccinating wild birds wherever conditions allow. Waterbirds, shorebirds, seabirds and birds of prey are among the wild species considered particularly vulnerable to the virus.Australia had remained one of the world's few continents without H5 virus strains for years, but the virus has now reached its wild bird populations. The development has raised concerns because Australia is home to many species found nowhere else. Scientists have also reported that H5 avian influenza infected southern elephant seal populations on remote Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, killing more than 13,000 pups and highlighting the potentially severe impact of the virus on wildlife.

  2026-08-15 09:00
• 

  • 菲律賓國旗

  SpaceX Shares Lose Some Retail Investor Support After Strong Start

  SpaceX attracted strong interest from individual investors after its stock market debut in June, but that enthusiasm showed signs of cooling last week. Data from Vanda Research showed that retail investors sold a net $4.5 million of SpaceX shares on August 7, the first time they had sold more than they bought since the company began trading on Nasdaq on June 12.The change came as SpaceX shares moved back toward their IPO price. Sam North, a market analyst at eToro, said investors may simply have decided it was a good time to take some profits after the stock recovered. He said the selling did not appear to be a panic-driven move, but rather a decision by some investors to lock in gains and think again about whether the stock was still worth holding at its current price.Retail investors had been active buyers of SpaceX shares. Their biggest one-day purchase came on June 16, when they bought about $144.6 million more shares than they sold. The $4.5 million net sale on August 7 was therefore relatively small compared with the amount they had previously put into the stock.The recent change followed a sharp move in SpaceX shares after the company released its first earnings report since going public. SpaceX reported better-than-expected results on August 4 and said its large investment in artificial intelligence was beginning to produce stronger returns. However, investors remain concerned about whether profits from Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet business, can keep up with the company's growing AI spending. The stock fell 13.6% on August 5, but retail investors responded by buying heavily. SpaceX remains a popular stock among individual investors and continues to attract attention on platforms including Stocktwits and Reddit's WallStreetBets.

  2026-08-14 09:00