NEW: Did Meta just take a swing at RFK Jr.? www.notus.org/technology/d...

New: As news of the hantavirus outbreak swept social media and cable news, some wondered: Why didn’t the administration publicly say what it was doing in response to hantavirus sooner?

NEW: Infectious disease experts are concerned the CDC and NIH aren’t doing enough to respond the hantavirus outbreak. “This, to me, not overstating it, is a travesty,” one said. More here: www.notus.org/health-scien...

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is on “thin ice” with the White House. https://www.notus.org/health-science/fda-chief-marty-makary-thin-ice

New: RFK Jr. has encouraged the CDC to study whether antidepressants “contribute to mass violence.” At an event hosted by the MAHA Institute, he unveiled a plan to reduce how often they’re prescribed. www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: Trump's new nominee for Surgeon General, Nicole Saphier, has criticized vaccine and mask mandates. "It’s time to ‘let’ anyone who wants to move on from the pandemic do so," she wrote in 2022. More on Saphier's nomination here: www.notus.org/healthcare/t...

“You suspended this pro-vaccine messaging campaign, but somehow you’re spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock." RFK Jr. is back on the hill -- read our coverage here (and @paigecunningham.bsky.social's first NOTUS byline!!): www.notus.org/health-scien...

West Virginia has some of the strongest vaccine laws in the country. Can MAHA change that? New from me on @notus.com, in partnership with the JAWS Health Journalism Fellowship: www.notus.org/health-scien...

Shocking news: This year's World Vaccine Congress had a Weird Vibe www.notus.org/health-scien...

“On the vaccine issue, I know we see things differently. I’m totally fine with putting that on the shelf and working on this together.’” New from me on how medical societies are collaborating (or not) with MAHA: www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEWS: In a meeting with CDC staff, Jay Bhattacharya said he and RFK Jr. have disagreed on "scientific matters" and that the new CDC director nominee will be announced tomorrow:

PSA from a health policy reporter: If you work at any of the health agencies -- including CDC, FDA, NIH -- I want to hear your stories and can keep your identity a secret. Signal me anytime at margaretmanto.61. Here's a picture from before I went into journalism:

Between his lengthy speech to House Republicans and subsequent news conference yesterday, President Trump didn’t use the word war once. Instead, he referred to the conflict in Iran as “a little excursion.” www.notus.org/defense/trum...

“The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated." “The flu shot has given 1,900,000 Americans Alzheimer’s." “Vaccines are causing autism." Inside an afternoon with the MAHA Institute:

"Anyone's better than that dog murderer." FEMA staff are rejoicing at Kristi Noem's ouster. I've had folks asking me for months if I knew when she might get fired. That day is finally here, and they are delighted.

Some corporate donors didn’t actually donate. Others did, but didn’t disclose as lobbying law required. The law, one government watchdog said, is “inadequate to the task.” @notus.com cracks open the black boxes that are presidential libraries: www.notus.org/money/presid...

NEW: The NIH says it will no longer recognize a union of early-career researchers because it does not believe they are "employees" who are "employed in an agency." "The NIH/UAW bargaining unit should never have been certified," NIH HR wrote. www.notus.org/health-scien...

Angie Farella, a Texas-based pediatrician, has called the RSV vaccine an "utter failure" and said the COVID-19 vaccine is "not safe nor is it effective.” On Friday, RFK Jr. appointed her to the CDC's vaccine recommendation committee. New from me: www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: HHS tells its employees to stop using Anthropic's AI tool, Claude www.notus.org/trump-white-...

"I am not here to complicate the issue on vaccines, " surgeon general nominee Casey Means told senators in her confirmation hearing this morning. Read more: www.notus.org/health-scien...

“No one’s told me at this point, ‘We’re getting out of flu, getting out of vaccines,’ but people are certainly concerned about what this means.” Pharma is on the lookout for new guidance from the FDA on flu shots — new from me: www.notus.org/health-scien...

HHS keeps citing an unreviewed paper that proposes some... interesting ways to re-test vaccines. We asked scientists to review it: www.notus.org/health-scien...

TrumpRx is live: www.notus.org/healthcare/t...

We found so many examples of missing federal government data that we couldn’t put them all in this story. “The status quo was, the federal government is going to collect and disseminate data. That is no longer a reasonable assumption.”

New: Pharmaceutical companies spent big on weight loss drug lobbying last year, as the federal government scrutinized their prices. www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEWS: The Ministry of Health of Guinea-Bissau has suspended a CDC-backed trial on the hepatitis B vaccine, pending further review. www.notus.org/healthcare/g...

Some personal news - I'm a 2026 Health Journalism Fellow with the Journalism and Women Symposium. My project focuses on how changing immunization recommendations impact kids in West Virginia, esp those who rely on federally funded vaccines. More to come! www.jaws.org/news/eight-r...

Researchers leading a controversial CDC-backed study on the Hepatitis B vaccine met with the WHO and UNICEF this week. While the study was meant to begin this month, one researcher told NOTUS they “didn’t have an idea yet when we will start.” www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEWS: The WHO and UNICEF are scrutinizing a CDC-backed study on the effects of the hepatitis B vaccine in Africa, researchers running the study told NOTUS. www.notus.org/health-scien...

The CDC will no longer explicitly recommend children get vaccinated for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, reducing the number of diseases covered by the childhood immunization schedule from 17 to 11. www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEWS: The CDC is cutting the childhood vaccine schedule by nearly half. “We hope this change will help address decreased uptake of vaccines, especially the most important diseases, and increase trust in public health,” a senior administration official said. www.notus.org/healthcare/c...

NEW: MAHA-coded wellness companies have already made it possible for you to buy a tax-free sauna. Now HSA advocates within HHS could help expand their market. W/ @emilykennard.bsky.social: www.notus.org/health-scien...

News: The Trump admin proposed rules to ban Medicaid from being used on gender-affirming care for trans youth Over 185K trans people are on Medicaid This comes a day after the House passed a bill criminalizing gender-affirming care w/ @margaretmanto.bsky.social www.notus.org/healthcare/h...

NEWS: The CDC is sending $1.6 million to a Danish vaccine research group with ties to the U.S. anti-vaccine movement. The group will study the effects of the Hepatitis B vaccine in infants -- in West Africa. www.notus.org/health-scien...

Maternity hospitals will now play a significant role in whether babies will universally be vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth. But many of the largest ones won’t say how they are responding to a controversial change in federal guidance. www.healthbeat.org/2025/12/18/h... #medsky #publichealth

NEWS: NIH will pause new funding for grants that include "misaligned" terms like "health equity" and "structural racism." Agency staff are required to use a "computational text analysis tool" to identify grants that include the unsanctioned terms. www.notus.org/health-scien...

A piece in which @emilykennard.bsky.social and I attempt to answer the question: Why do all the new .gov websites look like that? www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Vaccines.gov, the CDC's vaccination site search engine, got a MAHA makeover in June. Then it stopped working altogether. New from me: www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEWS: RFK Jr. is scheduled to speak at GW University next Monday, Nov. 17. The "Fireside Chat with Secretary Kennedy" will be hosted by TPUSA and GW College Republicans, and currently isn't being publicly advertised.

Thank you to @aaas.org for recognizing my and @emilykennard.bsky.social's reporting on the MAHA report. We couldn't have done it without our amazing editor @elisefoley.bsky.social and the support of @notus.com & the AJI fellowship. You can read the original story here: www.notus.org/health-scien...

Is cloud seeding part of a weather control conspiracy? A MAHA-coded sustainable agriculture strategy? Or -- as Utah Republicans seem to think -- could it really just be about bringing water to an arid state? New from me and Addy Baird @ the SL Tribune: www.notus.org/climate-envi...

“I’ve had death threats and wishes of harm on me and my children. I had the FBI call me one week saying that my name and my children’s names had shown up on dark websites.” I wrote about the challenges facing the MAHA resistance: www.notus.org/health-scien...

SCOOP: Mental health workers supporting CDC employees after the August shooting at the agency's headquarters were among those laid off last week. Read the story here: www.notus.org/health-scien...

SCOOP: Here's a breakdown of the 982 RIF'd HHS employees by division, per an HHS guidance that was reviewed by NOTUS: CDC -- 596 employees SAMHSA -- 125 HRSA -- 99 OASH -- 55 ACF -- 47 ASPR -- 41 ASA -- 18 ASPA -- 1 Full story w/ @oriana.bsky.social: www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: Only one employee remains in the Office of Population Affairs at HHS, which oversees family planning initiatives run by the federal government. W/ @annackramer.bsky.social: www.notus.org/health-scien...

I went to a weekly MAHA outreach call and all I got was Russell Brand taking a bath: www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: FDA commissioner Marty Makary told agency employees he got them exempted from any shutdown-induced firings Most FDA staff are already not immediately impacted by appropriated funding lapses thanks to the agency’s user fees. www.notus.org/trump-white-...

NEWS: CDC Says It’s Coordinating With the WHO, White House on Congo’s Ebola Outbreak www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: The U.S.’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Congo isn’t following the normal playbook, infectious disease leaders say. “We need to be very clear-eyed that the ability to control this and contain it regionally is diminished,” one said. www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: The U.S.’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Congo isn’t following the normal playbook, infectious disease leaders say. “We need to be very clear-eyed that the ability to control this and contain it regionally is diminished,” one said. www.notus.org/health-scien...