The second story in my series on barriers to hepatitis C elimination in the U.S. focuses on legislative hurdles. A bill would do what other countries and some states already do: negotiate with drug companies to lower treatment costs and expand access to those who need it most.

Public health departments are laying off staff and cancelling vaccine clinics after the Trump administration prematurely pulled billions of dollars in funding rollcall.com/2025/04/04/a...

Updated just now. Six pages so far. The breadth of destruction is staggering.

The Trump admin terminated NIH grant funding for a long-running research network that studied HIV in adolescents. One of the immediate impacts of this is a cancelled study to examine whether an antibiotic currently only approved for men to prevent STDs can also work in women.

The Trump admin is canceling NIH grants it deems to be "DEI" related. Mostly health equity grants, including one that studied maternal mortality in Black women, and a slew of HIV grants. rollcall.com/2025/03/24/t...

NEW: It’s unclear whether new NIH guidance will impact active grants, but it appears to halt opportunities for future funding of studies focused on the health effects of climate change. One climate health expert called the directive “catastrophic.” @anniewaldman.bsky.social/@fastlerner.bsky.social

The Trump admin is canceling NIH grants it deems to be "DEI" related. Mostly health equity grants, including one that studied maternal mortality in Black women, and a slew of HIV grants. rollcall.com/2025/03/24/t...

My story about how the Trump administration is undermining its own 2019 initiative to end the HIV epidemic in the US rollcall.com/2025/03/19/t...

Thank you @stephanienolen.bsky.social for writing this, “Despite being fully treatable, tuberculosis claimed 1.25 million lives in 2023, the last year for which data is available…The main TB research effort, testing new diagnostics and therapies, has been terminated.”

My story about how Trump is canceling LGBTQ+ research grants at NIH and how that's a wild departure from historical norms: rollcall.com/2025/03/07/a...

My story about how Trump is canceling LGBTQ+ research grants at NIH and how that's a wild departure from historical norms: rollcall.com/2025/03/07/a...

While President Trump talks about childhood cancer at the faux SOTU, it’s a fact that billions of dollars in research funding has been frozen at NIH and staff who support researchers have been fired.

Looking for sources who can talk about how HIV care and research in the US might be impacted by Trump’s executive orders and actions on DEI and gender. Hoping to talk to service providers, researchers, people with lived experiences, etc. DMs open!

I'm working on a story about how the Trump administration's EOs on DEI could impact federal funding of research on health disparities & health equity. If you're a researcher whose work has been impacted by this or you fear if might be, I'd love to chat. I can keep you anonymous. Signal:jshellmann.18

Death is not the only outcome that matters when it comes to infectious disease. In the TX measles outbreak, 16 people have been hospitalized so far, which can be traumatizing for kids and financially destructive for their parents. Measles can also cause a variety of adverse outcomes such as…

NEW: Some study sections resuming, but damage accrues. The resumption of some study sections is the latest twist in a whiplash-inducing four weeks of unprecedented delays that have left researchers reeling and already held up an estimated $1.5 billion in new funding. www.statnews.com/2025/02/24/s...

reminder: Medicaid expansion was approved by Idaho voters in 2018 with more than 60 percent of the vote.

WSJ did a back of the envelope calculation and figured Apple’s $500B US spending announcement is basically what it would have spent anyway, but packaged it as an appeasement gift to Trump. Brilliant. www.wsj.com/tech/apples-...

"At first glance, we were ecstatic... And then we're like, 'Well, where are all the female cancers?'" 19thnews.org/2025/02/canc...

For parents of kids and adult children with immunocompromised systems, the consequences of fewer people vaccinating themselves and their children could be life-threatening.

It’s hard to describe simply the Medicaid cuts in the House budget plan, but the short answer is they're big. The Energy and Commerce Committee has to produce at least $880 billion in cuts in its jurisdiction. Medicaid isn’t the only program, but it’s by far the biggest.

Billionaires are using a loophole to avoid Medicare taxes. Closing it — and eliminating other ways around the tax for wealthy business owners — could raise more than $250 billion over 10 years for the program. (Published Dec. 2024)

NEW: Trump actions on science may affect a generation as pauses + cuts in graduate admissions begin. “We had just flown them out, we told them we love you, we want to admit you, and then everything just stopped." "It's freezing everybody into inaction." www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/t...

After the Trump administration was required to restore health websites, this disclaimer appears on top of targethiv.org

It's difficult to reconcile President Trump's vow to "love and cherish" Medicaid with his endorsement of the House budget that could cut over $800 billion from the program. Cuts of that magnitude go well beyond eliminating fraud and abuse.

on this week's #WTHealth podcast: The courts push back on Trump actions, plus budget battles on Capitol Hill, with @shefali.bsky.social, @jessiehellmann.bsky.social, and Maya Goldman. Plus a chat w/Mark McClellan on NIH grants. kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast...

“If it’s not there,” Leach said of the federal money that covers the salaries for 40% of her staff, “things get really bad, really fast.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The Modern Medicaid Alliance, a coalition of providers, health plans and advocacy organizations, urges Congressional leaders to drop efforts to cut #Medicaid and uphold Trump's recent promise to protect the program. modernmedicaid.org/pressrelease...

NEW on CNN: Rubio spent years defending USAID/foreign aid as vital to US interests—arguing it was necessary to counter China. A CNN KFile review of Rubio’s Senate record show a decade of praise for USAID, including calling foreign aid “critical to our national security” . www.cnn.com/2025/02/05/p...

Key physician groups have stayed silent on the nomination of RFK Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department. rollcall.com/2025/02/03/k...

Several databases at the #CDC have gone offline today. We know of some — Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, AtlasPlus. There are undoubtedly more. If you are a researcher & use these databases, please share with @statnews.com how this will affect your work. www.statnews.com/2025/01/25/t...

#CDC staff have been instructed to remove pronouns from their email signatures by 5 pm today. This is part of the "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" Initiative.

This is not even an answer to the question (From Kennedy's written responses to Senate Finance Committee members)

Non-answer answers are typical responses to questions for the record after confirmation hearings; department heads can't commit to policies without the President's direction But these are just wild www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

An urgent message from the nation's health journalists:

Love a turn of phrase that makes me say "oh my god" aloud. "In response to Cassidy’s questions, Kennedy looked & sounded exactly like someone in a cold sweat nightmare trying to take an exam for a course he didn’t know he was enrolled in." @joannekenen.bsky.social www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Physicians and patients have been waiting years for the FDA to ask manufacturers to make pulse oximeters work on all skin tones. Just as they were making headway it looks like progress may now be stalled by anti-DEI initiatives. Great story by Erika Edwards. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

The #HPV #vaccine protects against 6 kinds of #cancer: cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile & head/neck/throat. Robert F. #Kennedy Jr's senate confirmation hearings for HHS Secretary begin today. Required reading on #RFK & HPV vaccine by @jessiehellmann.bsky.social

BREAKING: The Trump administration has issued a waiver for lifesaving medicines and medical services, offering a reprieve for a worldwide H.I.V. treatment program that was halted last week. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/h...

FDA's not updating its approved drugs database right now. So we made a chart of all the recent action. insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/p...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee for health secretary, doesn’t hold fringe views just on vaccines. We fact-checked five recent statements. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/h...

Trump’s sweeping directive pausing federal aid resulted in chaos Tuesday for everyone from state Medicaid programs to programs that deliver meals to older adults. plus.cq.com/doc/news-816...

Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal. This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.

"One study estimated that if PEPFAR were to end, as many as 600,000 lives would be lost over the next decade in South Africa alone. And that nation relies on PEPFAR for only 20 [%] of its H.I.V. budget. Some poorer countries are almost entirely dependent on" PEPFAR. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/h...

🚨RFK Jr.'s ethics and financial disclosure forms have been posted on the OGE website. These forms are key to scheduling a confirmation hearing. extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden... extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden...

Just to be clear: The Inflation Reduction Act is still in effect. It requires government negotiation of drug prices, a $35 insulin cap, and a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap (all in Medicare). Trump has not taken a public position on the IRA's drug policies yet.

Those of us following vaccine science have been critical of RFK’s anti vaccine views for decades. Pleased to be quoted in this article with friends like @aetiology.bsky.social and @pauloffit.bsky.social.

two days ago x.com/kyledcheney/...