The Download: the CDC’s vaccine chaos
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
A pivotal meeting on vaccine guidance is underway—and former CDC leaders are alarmed
This week has been an eventful one for America’s public health agency. Two former leaders of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained why they suddenly departed in a Senate hearing. They also described how CDC employees are being instructed to turn their backs on scientific evidence.
They painted a picture of a health agency in turmoil—and at risk of harming the people it is meant to serve. And, just hours afterwards, a panel of CDC advisers voted to stop recommending the MMRV vaccine for children under four. Read the full story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.
If you’re interested in reading more about US vaccine policy, check out:
+ Read our profile of Jim O’Neill, the deputy health secretary and current acting CDC director.
+ Why US federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA vaccines. Read the full story.
+ Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story. No vaccine is perfect, but these medicines are still saving millions of lives. Read the full story.
+ The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.
Meet Sneha Goenka: our 2025 Innovator of the Year
Every year, MIT Technology Review selects one individual whose work we admire to recognize as Innovator of the Year. For 2025, we chose Sneha Goenka, who designed the computations behind the world’s fastest whole-genome sequencing method.
Thanks to her work, physicians can now sequence a patient’s genome and diagnose a genetic condition in less than eight hours—an achievement that could transform medical care.
Register here to join an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation with Goenka, Leilani Battle, assistant professor at the University of Washington, and our editor in chief Mat Honan at 1pm ET next Tuesday September 23.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The CDC voted against giving some children a combined vaccine
If accepted, the agency will stop recommending the MMRV vaccine for children under 4. (CNN)
+ Its vote on hepatitis B vaccines for newborns is expected today too. (The Atlantic $)
+ RFK JR’s allies are closing ranks around him. (Politico)
2 Russia is using Charlie Kirk’s murder to sow division in the US
It’s using the momentum to push pro-Kremlin narratives and divide Americans. (WP $)
+ The complicated phenomenon of political violence. (Vox)
+ We don’t know what being ‘terminally online’ means any more. (Wired $)
3 Nvidia will invest $5 billion in Intel
The partnership allows Intel to develop custom CPUs to work with Nvidia’s chips. (WSJ $)
+ It’s a much-needed financial shot in the arm for Intel. (WP $)
+ It’s also great news for Intel’s Asian suppliers. (Bloomberg $)
4 Medical AI tools downplay symptoms in women and ethnic minorities
Experts fear that LLM-powered tools could lead to worse health outcomes. (FT $)
+ Artificial intelligence is infiltrating health care. We shouldn’t let it make all the decisions. (MIT Technology Review)
5 AI browsers have hit the mainstream
Where’s the off switch? (Wired $)
+ AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it. (MIT Technology Review)
6 China has entered the global brain interface race
Its ambitious government-backed startups are primed to challenge Neuralink. (Bloomberg $)
+ This patient’s Neuralink brain implant gets a boost from generative AI. (MIT Technology Review)
7 What makes humans unique in the age of AI?
Defining the distinctions between us and machines isn’t as easy as it used to be. (New Yorker $)
+ How AI can help supercharge creativity. (MIT Technology Review)
8 This ship helps to reconnect Africa’s internet
AI needs high speed internet, which needs undersea cables. (Rest of World)
+ What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Hundreds of people queued in Beijing to buy Apple’s new iPhone
Desire for Apple products in the country appears to be alive and well. (Reuters)
10 San Francisco’s idea of a great night out? A robot cage fight
It’s certainly one way to have a good time. (NYT $)
Quote of the day
“Get off the iPad!”
—An irate air traffic controller tells the pilots of a Spirit Airlines flight to pay attention to avoid potentially colliding with Donald Trump’s Air Force One aircraft, Ars Technica reports.
One more thing
We used to get excited about technology. What happened?
As a philosopher who studies AI and data, Shannon Vallor’s Twitter feed is always filled with the latest tech news. Increasingly, she’s realized that the constant stream of information is no longer inspiring joy, but a sense of resignation.
Joy is missing from our lives, and from our technology. Its absence is feeding a growing unease being voiced by many who work in tech or study it. Fixing it depends on understanding how and why the priorities in our tech ecosystem have changed. Read the full story.
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Would you go about your daily business with a soft toy on your shoulder? This intrepid reporter gave it a go.
+ How dying dinosaurs shaped the landscapes around us.
+ I can’t believe I missed Pythagorean Theorem day earlier this week.
+ Inside the rise in popularity of the no-water yard.