“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...

REPORTING REQUEST: If your pediatrician is not offering the covid vax because of policy changes, or you work for a practice that's decided not to offer it, reach out to me at 434 305 7310 (text/call/Signal) or [email protected]. I can keep your identity private.

NEW: RFK Jr. touted an AI biosurveillance program that doesn’t yet exist in his WSJ op-ed last week www.notus.org/health-scien...

Republican Senators cornered RFK Jr. this morning on his support for Operation Warp Speed, the first Trump administration's COVID-19 vaccine development project. www.notus.org/health-scien...

Three CDC officials have resigned since director Susan Monarez’s dismissal, which she is contesting: www.notus.org/health-scien...

RFK Jr. says he has identified the "interventions" behind rising autism rates and will "address them" next month: www.notus.org/health-scien...

“I was thinking they would have at least enhanced security going into campus,” one CDC employee told NOTUS. www.notus.org/health-scien...

HHS announces childhood vaccine safety task force, as requested by anti-vaccine groups: www.notus.org/health-scien...

"We think there’s lots of positive things coming, but we haven’t seen a whole lot." The tension between MAHA and USDA has been front and center at this week's "Great American Farmers Market": www.notus.org/health-scien...

“I love and loved my job, we did good work with some of the smartest people, and they’re being routinely disrespected and lied to." Inside the FDA's AI push, w/ @taylorgiorno_ www.notus.org/health-scien...

The new CDER director George Tidmarsh isn't enthusiastic about ingestible fluoride supplements: www.notus.org/health-scien...

Restorative reproductive medicine's relationship to the MAHA movement is like a "Venn diagram," according to one practitioner. Can RRM get the MAHA boost without getting turned into the anti-IVF scapegoat? www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: HHS quietly announced its intention to fund the development of vaccines against two viruses it considers “material threats to national health security.” www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: “The rhetoric is quite different, but it doesn’t seem like the reality is obviously different." RFK Jr. promised to end the "corporate capture" of the health agencies. But lobbyists and experts said for the most part, it's still business as usual. www.notus.org/health-scien...

New: In his first acknowledgement of the MAHA report's citation issues, RFK Jr. called the fabricated citations "a mistake" but insisted that all of the report's "foundational assertions" were accurate. www.notus.org/health-scien...

Exclusive: Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling for an investigation into RFK Jr.'s vaccine committee firings: www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: Is change coming to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program? HHS gave $$ for VICP “expertise” to the firm of a lawyer who’s criticized the program and sued vaccine manufacturers directly: www.notus.org/health-scien...

We found more instances of the MAHA report misinterpreting research -- this time, about vaccines. w/ @emilykennard.bsky.social : www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEW: The MAHA report has been updated, but some of those changes have introduced new problems, the cited researchers told NOTUS. New from me and @emilykennard.bsky.social: www.notus.org/health-scien...

I spoke with @samsteindc.bsky.social and @thebulwark.com about NOTUS's investigation into the MAHA report citation issues: