Category: Health Policy
Health Groups Hailed a Vaccine Ruling, but Their Relief May Be Short-Lived
NYT Lawyers for both sides in the federal lawsuit, brought by six medical organizations, are trying to understand the ramifications of the judge’s decision. When a federal judge on Monday blocked the changes in vaccine policy set in motion by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the last year, public health groups hailed the […]
Mar 25, 2026
FDA’s top infectious disease regulator to depart agency
STAT Adam Sherwat’s office has faced scrutiny from top FDA official Tracy Beth Høeg. The Food and Drug Administration official in charge of reviewing infectious disease products is leaving the agency, according to an email viewed by STAT. Adam Sherwat, the director of the Office of Infectious Diseases in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation […]
Mar 18, 2026
FDA Launches New Combined Adverse Event Database
MedPage Today System will replace safety databases monitoring drugs, devices, food, and more. “The FDA’s previous adverse event reporting systems were outdated and fragmented and made important data difficult to access,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, said in the release. “These clunky systems also wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and created blind spots in […]
Mar 11, 2026
NIH director launches “Scientific Freedom” lectures with non-scientist
ARS Technica On Tuesday, word spread that the National Institutes of Health was launching a series of what it’s calling “Scientific Freedom Lectures,” with the first scheduled for March 20. The “freedom” theme echoes one of the major concerns of the director of the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, who feels he suffered outrageous censorship of his ideas […]
Mar 11, 2026
The global fallout of RFK Jr’s vaccine policies
NPR In his role as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is changing how the United States approaches vaccines. But those changes aren’t limited to the United States. This episode, NPR global health correspondent Gabrielle Emanuel shares two examples of how the global public health landscape may be shifting. First, the United States’ […]
Mar 4, 2026
N.I.H. Director Will Temporarily Run C.D.C. in Leadership Shake-Up
NYT Dr. Jay Bhattacharya will serve as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until President Trump appoints a permanent director. The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, will take on the additional role of acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two administration […]
Feb 18, 2026
The CDC just sidelined these childhood vaccines. Here’s what they prevent
NPR The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability, and death. Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend — against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, […]
Jan 14, 2026
New RFK Jr. pick for vaccine panel: ‘I was not anti-vaccine. I am now.’
Washington Post Two OB/GYNs appointed to an influential federal vaccine advisory panel have criticized vaccination during pregnancy and more broadly. One called the vaccine industry “disgusting.” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday expanded a key federal vaccine advisory panel to include more critics of vaccines who have contradicted mainstream medical guidance, including one […]
Jan 14, 2026
CDC staff ‘blindsided’ as child vaccine schedule unilaterally overhauled
Washington Post The Trump administration took unprecedented steps to recommend fewer vaccines for children without extensive consultations with career scientists. Vaccine experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were blindsided by a top deputy toHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to unilaterally overhaul the childhood immunization schedule, according to current and former agency staff. […]
Jan 7, 2026
RFK Jr. guts the US childhood vaccine schedule despite its decades-long safety record
The Conversation The Trump administration’s overhauling of the decades-old childhood vaccination schedule, announced by federal health officials on Jan. 5, 2026, has raised alarm among public health experts and pediatricians. The U.S. childhood immunization schedule, the grid of colored bars pediatricians share with parents, recommends a set of vaccines given from birth through adolescence to prevent a […]
Jan 7, 2026