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Tumultuous FDA upends regulations on vaccines and medications
As most experienced, knowledgeable leaders leave or are pushed out of the FDA, Trump appointees are quietly changing the way vaccines and medications are regulated. I’ve been following vaccine regulations and recommendations closely, and I’m concerned about the future of vaccines — and certain politicized medications — in the United States. Today, I wanted to…
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The US government shut down — and blamed Democrats in apparent Hatch Act violation
It’s against the law for government employees to use their office for partisan political activities. On Wednesday, the U.S. government shut down after Congress was unable to pass a continuing resolution to continue paying federal employees and services. That’s happened before — but this time, the rhetoric is highly unusual. Some agencies reportedly sent emails…
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How Trump is “illegally” holding back funds
Protesters in D.C. called attention to the Trump administration’s refusal to disburse money, even though Congress appropriated it. Yesterday, protesters laid on the ground in a busy intersection near the White House to call attention to the Trump administration’s refusal to pay for HIV prevention and care. I was there to report for the Guardian…
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When Trump targets the homeless, we’re all at risk
Americans are losing affordable housing under Trump. And his new executive order goes even further. Before he began deploying federal agents, the National Guard, and the D.C. police to clear urban camping sites, Trump issued a new executive order on homelessness. It made immediate waves among people focused on housing, but otherwise it’s not gotten…
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Covid cases are on the rise — but vaccines are being restricted
Getting a booster is a great way to protect yourself. We’re at the start of a new Covid wave. Several key measurements — including wastewater data, test positivity and emergency room visits — indicate a new rise in infections. Cases are increasing or probably increasing in 45 states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s getting harder to…
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FDA may pull the only Covid vaccine available for all kids
The FDA may not renew Pfizer’s pediatric Covid vaccine — the only one available to kids without health conditions On Saturday, I published a scoop: The FDA reportedly told Pfizer it may not renew the emergency use authorization for its Covid vaccine for children aged 6 months to four years. That’s the only Covid vaccine…
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How RFK Jr. made millions from vaccine lawsuits
His actions as health secretary could lead to widespread vaccine shortages, illness, death — and personal enrichment. My editor at the New Republic recently asked me what I thought of the latest news on vaccines. He was referring to the decision by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services, to fire 17…
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RFK Jr. recommends new vaccines after months of delay
With no official or acting CDC director, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in charge of the CDC — and recommending vaccines is the one job he can’t delegate. Who is in charge at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? I reported on this last week for the Guardian — and the answer was…
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How the Trump admin is undermining vaccines
They’re calling all science into question and undermining public trust in the whole endeavor. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines heralded a major breakthrough in battling the Covid pandemic, building on three decades of scientific work and earning a Nobel prize. They show promise for treating or preventing certain cancers, rare conditions and infectious diseases — including, potentially,…
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Are we ready for the next pandemic?
The U.S. response to the bird flu and measles outbreaks are worrying signs that our pandemic preparedness has eroded. I’ve been covering bird flu for a while now. It wasn’t great under Biden. There was never enough testing to understand where outbreaks are happening and how they are spreading. Health leaders chose not to deploy…
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NIH director’s own research filled with errors
Jay Bhattacharya used a flawed study in 2020 to argue for reopening even as Covid gained force. Today, Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), testified before a Congressional committee. The main takeaway: Bhattacharya does not seem interested in defending steep budget cuts to U.S. research. He said budgets are a…
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Foreign aid is a test balloon — and its future is now up to Congress
The Trump administration has targeted USAID before moving on to other controversial cuts. This time may be no different. Last Tuesday, President Trump asked Congress to rescind $8.3 billion in foreign aid that lawmakers had already approved in 2024 and 2025 budgets. I reported on what this means, especially for HIV prevention and treatment, for…
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RFK Jr’s autism database is still happening
It’s not a “registry,” it’s a “real-world data platform” to “link existing datasets,” HHS told me. The news that the U.S. government was creating an “autism registry” sparked a major outcry in recent weeks. One petition against it gained 30,000 signatures in one day, eventually reaching nearly 50,000 names. The backlash seemed to work. “We…
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U.S. alleges foreign aid groups committed “fraud”
The State Department said, without citing evidence, that foreign assistance was cut because funds may have been misused. The U.S. Agency for International Development recently canceled at least $1.3 billion in humanitarian aid — most of it food and nutrition for people on the brink of famine. Less than half of it was later un-canceled.…
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What gives me hope
As the Trump administration attacks science and expertise, and a measles outbreak is already testing its laidback approach to health, ordinary people are fighting back. There’s a good/infuriating article about anti-vaccine sentiment in West Texas during the growing measles outbreak there. It’s really illuminating and I recommend reading it, if you’re able. This line has…
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Should I be worried about measles?
Here’s the lowdown on measles in the U.S., and whether you should get a measles booster. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has only been health secretary for a few weeks, but already he’s facing a test that reveals his approach to infectious diseases. A measles outbreak is spiraling in the American Southwest, with a total of…
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Health websites struggle with outages, plus more weekend emails
The websites for the NIH and other health agencies are experiencing technical difficulties this weekend. And there’s a new “five things” email — now due every Monday. The website for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the agency responsible for overseeing federal research in the U.S. and one of the premier research organizations in the…
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Bird flu hospitalizes two people and is now endemic in cows
As the Trump administration struggles to find its footing on the outbreak, state collaboration will be key Two people, a woman from Wyoming and a man in Ohio, have been hospitalized with H5N1, the CDC said in a routine flu update on Friday. The woman is still in hospital, while the man has been released to…
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USAID begins laying off U.S. employees
The Trump administration put nearly all of USAID’s 4,700 full-time employees on paid administrative leave at midnight last night. By 10 pm yesterday, employees began receiving form letters saying their last day will be April 24. “To start sending these [letters] out at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night was horrendous,” a source told me.…
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Conflicting advice on “last week” email
On Saturday afternoon, federal employees received an email asking what they did last week. Then the confusion set in. Some employees refused to open the email, which was from an unusual address through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), for fear that it was a phishing attempt. Some inboxes sent the email directly to spam.…
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