Did slashing multiple vaccines from the childhood vaccine schedule bring the US in line with other countries? In a word, no. The US now recommends all kids be protected against fewer diseases than South Korea, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan & many more. www.statnews.com/2026/01/09/c...

RFK Jr. has quietly undermined the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which plays a huge role in determining what screenings and other preventive services are available to Americans. From Nina Agrawal, myself and Dani Blum (gift link):

#Breaking: The number of recommended childhood shots drops from 17 to 11. www.statnews.com/2026/01/05/c...

Gift article about the across-the-board *slowdown* in federal funding for science - on ALL the topics. But especially for up-and-coming scientists. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... 🎁

A panel that advises #CDC on vaccine policy votes to do away with the recommendation all babies should be vaccinated against #hepatitisB at birth. "We are doing harm," said panel member Cody Meissner, who voted against this #ACIP recommendation. www.statnews.com/2025/12/05/c...

Join us on 7/15 for the virtual public release webinar of a new report examining challenges and solutions to better aligning investment in #TherapeuticDevelopment with #DiseaseBurden and #UnmetNeed. Register here: buff.ly/2NXP6Wo

SCOTUS keeps ACA preventive care mandate, but only by stressing that HHS can fire USPSTF members or block or undo Task Force recommendations. That’s a win for access, but it puts evidence-based care on a political leash. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

RFK Jr abruptly called off tomorrow's scheduled USPSTF meeting Notice came from the immediate Office of the Secretary "There is extraordinary concern," among those connected to the task force, "that it's about to be dismissed, like ACIP was," a source familiar tells us www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/h...

Gilead announced a deal to get its groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to lower income countries. Notably, the deal does not include PEPFAR. www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

Great news - The global fund has reached an agreement w Gilead to purchase 2M doses of lenacapavir for PrEP for low and middle income countries. Access will be prioritized based HIV epidemiology, national prevention strategies, + available resources www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/2025...

Republicans are poised to pass the biggest cuts in health coverage ever. @nytopinion.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/o...

House Republicans said there wouldn’t be $880 billion in Medicaid cuts, and they passed a bill with $793 billion. The Senate then passed a bill with a trillion dollars in Medicaid cuts.

As of a couple weeks ago, fewer than one in ten people knew there were Medicaid cuts in this bill. Folks are in for a very rude surprise. priorities.org/news-and-pre...

BREAKING: The authority of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to indicate preventative health care insurers must cover survives a challenge to SCOTUS, but the 6-3 ruling gives the health secretary more sway over what must be covered. www.statnews.com/2025/06/27/s...

SCOTUS keeps ACA preventive care mandate, but only by stressing that HHS can fire USPSTF members or block or undo Task Force recommendations. That’s a win for access, but it puts evidence-based care on a political leash. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Just minutes into the first meeting of scientific advisers appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it was clear that the skeptical panelists intended to upend longstanding vaccine recommendations in the US, particularly those pertaining to children. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

“There is more potential than ever before to end the H.I.V. epidemic... But now, H.I.V. programs across Africa are scrambling to procure drugs that the United States once supplied, replace lost nurses and lab technicians, and restart shuttered programs to prevent new infections.”

BREAKING: The FDA has approved a twice-yearly injection that provided a near-perfect shield against H.I.V. infection in clinical trials. But the Trump administration has gutted the programs that might have paid for it in low-income countries (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

#Breaking: 10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut bill, CBO projects buff.ly/DnBihzo

The Trump administration’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year eliminates funding for programs that provide lifesaving vaccines around the world, including immunizations for polio. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/h...

No creature more optimistic than Mochi thinking that maybe — just maybe — tonight will finally be the night she gets that fourth serving of dinner #dogsofbluesky

The spread of measles in the Southwest now constitutes the largest single outbreak since the United States declared the disease eliminated in 2000, CDC told state officials in a meeting on Monday www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/h...

One of the truly puzzling things about the #HHS budget cuts is the slashing of funding for programs aimed at stopping spread of #HIV. Brett Giroir, from the first Trump administration, finds it puzzling too. www.statnews.com/2025/04/23/t...

The National Institutes of Health plans to pool information from private sources like pharmacies and smartwatches.

Today the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the ACA's mandate to cover preventative care services with no cost sharing. A new study led by @jsalomon.bsky.social shows that nearly 1 in 3 people with private health insurance use the top 10 of these services. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Work done in collaboration w/ CDC colleagues examined the impact of partner notification across epidemiological contexts to identify determinants of variation and to compare effect size to a prior observational study. 🛟🧪 w/ @jsalomon.bsky.social @yhgrad.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jid/article/...

Across states, 20.5–38.5% of enrollees in private insurance use free preventive services jeopardized by Kennedy v Braidwood. Thirteen states have >1 million enrollees who use free services, including >3 million in Texas where the case originated. ja.ma/3GcUZC6

On Monday the Supreme Court hears a case that could strike down the ACA mandate that insurers cover preventive services at no cost to patients. We found that ~40 million people with private insurance use these free services, including half of enrolled women. JAMA Health Forum: ja.ma/3GcUZC6 🩺📊

On Monday the Supreme Court hears a case that could strike down the ACA mandate that insurers cover preventive services at no cost to patients. We found that ~40 million people with private insurance use these free services, including half of enrolled women. JAMA Health Forum: ja.ma/3GcUZC6 🩺📊

...when public health works it's invisible...

Drug-resistant gonorrhea, a form of the widespread sexually transmitted infection, is considered an urgent health threat worldwide. The US has just lost its ability to detect it. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/h...

NEW 🧵 A quick thread of charts showing how Trump’s economic agenda is going so far: 1) US consumers are reacting very very negatively. These are the worst ratings for any US government’s economic policy since records began.

Distribution and transmission of #tuberculosis in a high-HIV prevalence city in Malawi: A genomic and spatial analysis 🛟🧪 journals.plos.org/globalpublic... @uofgshw.bsky.social @jasonandrews.bsky.social @rachaelburke.bsky.social @jsalomon.bsky.social

At some point in the future, a Democratic President and Secretary of HHS will probably try to rebuild the department following the major staffing cuts happening now. It won't be easy, and will likely require Congress. www.kff.org/from-drew-al...

Thinking of my CDC colleagues today, scientists and public servants doing vital work for our nation. This is devastating.

The White House will nominate Dr. Susan Monarez, the current acting director of the CDC, to lead the agency, according to a US Department of Health and Human Services official.

15 years of public opinion of the ACA. www.kff.org/interactive/...

The Trump administration is considering shutting down the HIV prevention division of the CDC and shifting its activities to a different agency. The move is representative of a reversal of the first Trump administration’s stance on HIV. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/h...

12. Like art, music, philosophy, and literature, science is literally part of humanity's heritage. My colleagues and I have had the amazing opportunity to be part of something vastly larger than ourselves, with meaning that transcends any state, regime, or generation. They can't take that away.

Senior scientists with NIH grants fear the Trump administration will abandon all work on mRNA, a promising field of medical research for flu, AIDS, cancer, and more. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Elon Musk says that no one has died because he slashed humanitarian aid. I went to South Sudan to check if that's true. It's not. Meet Peter, Achol and Evan, ages 10, 8 and 5. The reckless actions of the world's richest men are killing the world's poorest kids www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Breaking News: President Trump is withdrawing his CDC nominee, Dr. Dave Weldon, just hours before a Senate hearing, after his confirmation prospects dimmed.

“I am a TB survivor myself: I cannot leave people just dying." Agnes Okose and other community health workers in Kenya continue to work without pay to sustain TB care after US cuts. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/h... Photo credit: Brian Otieno for @nytimes.com

NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Pardon me, but the sign clearly says no parking

New: People across the political spectrum really don't want Medicaid to be cut. And, it's personal: 53% of people say they or a family member has been covered by Medicaid at some point. www.kff.org/medicaid/pol...

The Texas-New Mexico #measles outbreak has claimed a second life. Unvaccinated adult. Measles is not a benign ailment. The only way to prevent it is vaccination. www.nmhealth.org/news/alert/2...

Hoping tonight’s address can clarify which part of less healthy less secure less free less just less prosperous is the “great” part.

One of the nearly 5,800 USAID contracts cancelled this week was the Global Drug Facility. GDF is the org that negotiated the 54% price drop in bedaquilline that we recently celebrated. It coordinates the majority of #Tuberculosis treatment and tests purchased globally www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h...

Breaking: RFK Jr. moves to quietly eliminate public comment from HHS's decision making: www.statnews.com/2025/02/28/r...