MUST READ: How a fight over Covid's origins tore apart a marriage. She ran away to the US, aided by Steve Bannon. He followed her, but can't find her. It's a story of politics, science and most of all love. By Katie JM Baker @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/u...

Millions of Americans are confronting the highest health insurance costs in years. @reedabelson.bsky.social son explains why. Obamacare subsidies expire in 3 weeks. The clock is ticking on Capitol Hill. Congress may push the issue off until next year. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/h...

The inside scoop on how RFK Jr. has maneuvered to dismantle America's longstanding vaccine system. It's a tangled tale including a government whistleblower, activists, a discredited researcher and CDC officials who fought back, then quit. w/ @by-cjewett.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

RFK laid out his plans to wreck vaccine science & policy in books, speeches, podcasts & films before becoming Health Secretary. @sherylnyt.bsky.social & @by-cjewett.bsky.social track how he's succeeding in impressive detail. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u... eg:

NEW: An inside look at how RFK Jr. has walled himself off from government scientists and installed old allies in key positions to advance the vaccine agenda that has animated him for 20 years. "Vaccines must be a culprit," he told me. w/ @by-cjewett.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

HAPPENING NOW: Bill Cassidy wants legislation passed - in 3 WEEKS - to deal with expiring Obamacare subsidies. He is literally pleading with his fellow senators. "We can push for big ideas . . . on the right or the left, but we gotta have a solution for three weeks from now." Bernie is skeptical.

Does this explain the mysterious rise in autism in Minnesota’s Somali community? “…prosecutors said providers recruited children in Minneapolis’s Somali community, falsely certifying them as qualifying for autism treatment and paying their parents kickbacks ..” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...

This week's ACIP agenda is out. The entire childhood vaccine schedule is up for discussion, as are "adjuvants and contaminants" - presumably aluminum. www.cdc.gov/acip/downloa...

Walt Dowdle was a “gift to public health.” He helped lead the nation’s response to AIDS, made important discoveries about other viruses & emphasized the importance of trust in the CDC. I thought he deserved an NYT obituary. So I wrote one. He was 94. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...

Heartbreaking. A young mother is facing a terminal cancer diagnosis with bravery and grace. "Adding to her fears were the actions of her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, who she calls “an embarrassment” to her family." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/u...

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES BROKEN. "Nine months later, some of the most consequential promises that Mr. Cassidy said he had secured from Mr. Kennedy appear to have been breached or broken altogether." @anniekarni.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: RFK Jr. told me he personally instructed CDC to abandon its longstanding position that vaccines don't cause autism. He acknowledged that large-scale studies of MMR vaccine and thimerosal show no link. But he cited gaps in vaccine safety science. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...

HEADS UP: CDC website now officially asserts that vaccines may cause autism.“Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.” Also says the “vaccines do not cause autism” header remains b/c of an agreement with Cassidy.

NEW: Jenna Norton, an NIH employee who is openly critical of Trump & RFK Jr, has been put on "non-disciplinary" administrative leave. She says the administration is trying to "scare and silence me." An HHS official, asked to comment, called her a radical leftist. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

"God is an anti-vaxxer and he needs you to speak up." 1,000 supporters of RFK Jr. gathered in Austin this weekend to chart the future of their movement. With a special guest appearance by Cheryl Hines. This is what it looked like: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...

Dick Cheney's death, Monday at age 84, took me back to my days as a White House correspondent. As vice president, I wrote in 2008, he "stretched the limits of the job in ways his predecessors could not have imagined." “I don’t run anything," Cheney insisted. www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/w...

At the end of his life, Dick Cheney, an ardent Republican, voted for a Democrat: “We have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” he said. Dick Cheney, Powerful Vice President and Washington Insider, Dies at 84 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/u...

In which the health secretary spoofs drug ads: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqZz...

Evidence that at the least, RFK Jr has changed the conversation around food. At @apha.org meeting, “regulating ultra processed foods” appears to win the straw poll as the policy most likely to improve nutrition.

NEW: FDA Drug Unit Chief Is Placed on Leave, and Cites a ‘Toxic’ Environment. Says politics was interfering with science in the race to approve new drugs. @by-cjewett.bsky.social has the scoop. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/h...

HAPPENING NOW: 12,000 public health professionals meeting in DC. They’ll rally on the National Mall Wednesday The president of @apha.org walked onto the stage to the tune of “Mission Impossible.” Their opening video referred to the RFK and the Trump administration as “The Syndicate.”

NEW: Steven Hatfill, the biosecurity expert and opponent of mNRA research, tells me he was fired by RFK Jr.'s chief of staff as part of "a coup to overthrow Mr. Kennedy." HHS says he misrepresented himself & didn't play well in the sandbox. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Trump took a wrecking ball to the White House. There has got to be a metaphor in here somewhere. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/a...

RFK Jr. to TRUMP, on the White House plan to expand access to fertility drugs: "You made peace in the Middle East which is beyond anybody's imagination. Now you're giving millions of Americans a chance to have babies and you're doing this while the government is locked down by the Democrats."

BIRTH CONTROL OFFICE DECIMATED: Trump and RFK Jr. laid off nearly the entire HHS Office of Population Affairs, which oversees programs that help millions of American women prevent unwanted pregnancies, which in turn prevents abortion. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

TRUMP CDC REVERSAL: Trump administration racing to reverse some CDC layoffs. Disease detectives, measles responders, MMWR staff RIF’s are revoked. DC office still shuttered. w/ @apoorvanyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

OOOPS! UPDATE: Two HHS officials tell me that disease detectives, measles response officers, global health officials and the MMWR staff were laid off by mistake and will be reinstated. But Washington office is still RIFed

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

Credit where credit is due. Lost in the uproar over Trump's claims about Tylenol and autism, the NIH is funneling millions of dollars into credible scientific research on the disorder. My colleague Ben Mueller on Jay Bhattacharya's announcement: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/h...

Remember Aaron Siri? The lawyer and RFK ally who wanted to revoke approval of the standalone polio vaccine? He's pushing for warning labels on Tylenol now. @by-cjewett.bsky.social reports on Siri's ties to Kennedy and his outsized influence on vaccine policy. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/h...

I keep seeing photos of men who make US health policy, like this one of Trump announcing lower drug prices. HHS.gov features only men: Bhattacharya, Oz, Trump, Kennedy, Makary. HHS has 35 top slots. 21 men. 6 women. 8 are vacant. Just saying. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/h...

Going through my email and found this vile, anti-Semitic, racist rant. Ordinarily I wouldn't share or amplify. But it also seems to me that people ought to be reminded that this exists.

She's 27 weeks pregnant and healing from a shattered vertebrae. On bad days, the pain is unbearable. She stopped taking heavy painkillers. Trump says she should give up Tylenol and "tough it out." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...

"In some respects this was the most unhinged discussion of autism that I have ever listened to." "We agree we need gold standard science, but that’s not what we got." Experts react to Trump & RFK Jr.'s press conference on autism. @nytimesoped.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...

For Trump, Who Has ‘Strong Feelings’ About Autism, the Issue Is Personal Here’s why; www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/u...

BREAKING: Florida judge dismisses Trump $15B case against @nytimes @nytimes.com @susannecraignyt.bsky.social @russbuettner.bsky.social @peterbakernyt.bsky.social Michael Schmidt

UPDATE: Today Cassidy invited RFK Jr. to testify. Kennedy spox was noncommittal; told me he will "will continue to hold productive conversations" with the health committee. Here's a recap of yesterday's hearing, ICYMI. w/Megan Mineiro www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/u...

ICYM Susan Monarez's testimony, here's my take on The Daily with @rachelabramsnyt.bsky.social. There's much more at stake than one woman's firing. The future health of all Americans -- and especially children -- is on the line. Listen here: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/p...

Susan Monarez will tell the Senate that RFK Jr. fired her from CDC for “holding the line on scientific integrity.” She told him he could fire her if he didn’t trust her. Deb Houry, who quit CDC, will also testify. I’ll be in the room. Watch here for live updates. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Cassidy paved the way for Kennedy's confirmation, saying RFK Jr. promised a "unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship." Now the senator faces a tough primary challenge at home. He's dancing a fine line on Kennedy. w/ Megan Mineiro www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/u...

Pausing to remember Robert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist. He was 89. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/m...

Cassidy is asking RFK Jr. to encourage vaccination, amid whooping cough outbreak in Louisiana: x.com/senbillcassi...

RFK Jr. is far more willing to crack down on Big Pharma than he is on Big Food or Big Ag. Smart news analysis by @benjmueller.bsky.social and Dani Blum www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...

BIG NEWS! Seriously. Prince Harry had tea with his father, King Charles. I am such a sucker for the royals. And I hate family feuds. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/w...

NEW: Trump was irritated by the negative coverage around chaos at the CDC, and the White House told RFK Jr. to tone down his rhetoric. Still, no evidence of a break between the president and his celebrity health secretary. w/ Maggie Haberman www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/u...

Report from MAHA presser: A reporter asked RFK Jr. if he agreed with President Trump that some vaccines work, pure and simple. Kennedy said, "I agree with that." Then he banged the gavel, ending the press conference.

Kennedy is tapping into widely-held concerns about the medical establishment putting profits over patients. But experts in conspiracy theories say his 'conspiratorial mind-set' is dangerous for public health. My analysis of Thursday's hearing: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...

Prediction: ACIP will abandon its recommendation for routine HepB vaccination for infants. Senate Republicans including two doctors -- Rand Paul and Roger Marshall (see below) are laying the groundwork for it.