NEW: We analyzed recent state actions on vaccine policy, given narrowing federal guidelines. Overall, 26 states have taken some action; of these, 23 have Democratic governors, signaling a growing red/blue divide in vaccine access. @kff.org Key findings in next post ⬇️ www.kff.org/covid-19/tra...

Tracking State Actions on Vaccine Policy and Access | KFF

With recent federal actions to curtail vaccine access, many states have announced actions intended to maintain broader access. This issue brief provides a snapshot of this rapidly changing landscape, ...

kff.org

As some states form alliances on vaccine policy, others bar vaccine mandates, and ACIP pulls back on recommendations for certain vaccines, we provide a snapshot of what states are doing on vaccine policy. Dive in: https://on.kff.org/3IhxRnr

Tracking State Actions on Vaccine Policy and Access | KFF

With recent federal actions to curtail vaccine access, many states have announced actions intended to maintain broader access. This issue brief provides a snapshot of this rapidly changing landscape, tracking which states have instituted changes in resp...

on.kff.org

Only a small minority of parents oppose school vaccine requirements, nationally and in Florida specifically, according to new @kff.org @washingtonpost.com polling. The great majority of parents support these requirements. Even 73% of self-described MAGA parents support these requirements

NEW: "The USAID List of Terminated Global Health Awards – What Does it Tell Us?" www.kff.org/policy-watch...

The USAID List of Terminated Global Health Awards – What Does it Tell Us? | KFF

This policy watch examines the USAID list of terminated awards, recently sent Congress, to examine the implications for global health programs and outstanding questions.

kff.org

⚡KFF’s @lindseydawson.bsky.social writes about the implications of a potential funding cut to the CDC’s HIV prevention budget. #QuickTake on.kff.org/4izGLZR

In two rulings in the last 8 days, judges have ruled against Trump Administration actions freezing USAID funding and shutting down the agency. These will continue to be fought in court. From our @kff.org timeline of events on USAID: www.kff.org/u-s-foreign-...

The Great Birdington Declaration www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/h...

RFK Jr.’s Prescription for Bird Flu on Farms: Let It Spread

The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.

nytimes.com

Dr. Dave Weldon "didn't have the votes" to be confirmed as CDC Director, according to a source. His confirmation hearing this morning was cancelled. Interesting to note that the CDC Director position only became Senate confirmed as of this year. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

White House to Withdraw Weldon as CDC Nominee

A Republican familiar with the nomination said Dr. Dave Weldon didn’t have the votes in the Senate to be confirmed.

wsj.com

Excellent timeline of events from @kff.org chronicling Trump/Musk actions to freeze all U.S. foreign aid and dissolve #USAID

U.S. Foreign Aid Freeze & Dissolution of USAID: Timeline of Events | KFF

This timeline provides a detailed overview of actions, including counter-actions, related to the administration’s efforts to freeze all U.S. foreign aid and dissolve the U.S. Agency for International…

buff.ly

Utah Governor Cox signs a fluoride ban into law. A remarkable new development in the saga of fluoride in the U.S., as Utah is the first state ever to impose such a ban. www.wsj.com/us-news/utah...

Utah to Become First State to Ban Fluoride in Public Water

Most public-health experts say the mineral additive is a crucial protector against tooth decay.

wsj.com

Josh Michaud@joshmich.bsky.social · last yr.

Utah is on the verge of being the first state to ban use of fluoride in drinking water. It's up to the governor to veto (or not) the legislation approved by Republican lawmakers www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Reports of a second measles death now in the growing measles outbreak. Apparently Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was prescient when he initially mentioned two measles deaths last week. Another unvaccinated individual. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Second death reported in growing measles outbreak

The death of a New Mexico adult comes eight days after a 6-year-old child succumbed to the disease in Texas last week.

washingtonpost.com

Utah is on the verge of being the first state to ban use of fluoride in drinking water. It's up to the governor to veto (or not) the legislation approved by Republican lawmakers www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Utah could become the first state to ban fluoride in its drinking water

The Republican-controlled statehouse sent the bill to the desk of Gov. Spencer Cox (R) last week after it passed both chambers largely along party lines.

washingtonpost.com

Report of the first death due to the TX measles outbreak. 124 cases of measles have been reported in the outbreak so far, almost all among unvaccinated children apnews.com/article/meas...

First measles death is reported in the West Texas outbreak that's infected more than 120 people

A person who was hospitalized has died from measles in West Texas. It's the first since the outbreak began late last month.

apnews.com

Trump Administration Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says USDA will invest "up to $1 billion" to address the avian flu crisis and bring down the price of eggs. Part of that investment, she writes in an op-ed, will come from DOGE savings. www.wsj.com/opinion/agri...

It appears there is little to no resistance from Senate Republicans to the nomination of RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

Excellent article which (ahem) lays out biosecurity issues facing U.S. egg production in a time of uncontrolled H5N1 spread in poultry, and the growing risk for human health kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

On the Front Lines Against Bird Flu, Egg Farmers Say They're Losing the Battle - KFF Health News

Tools used to contain previous bird flu outbreaks aren’t working this time, experts say. The virus has sickened at least 67 people in the U.S. and killed one, with egg producers begging for a new appr...

kffhealthnews.org

Rubio claims that @USAID lifesaving assistance for health and humanitarian needs will continue. But his team just communicated that the entire agency will be imminently reduced from 14,000 to 294 people. Just 12 in Africa.

To my knowledge, USAID's President's #Malaria Initiative (PMI) is still subject to the #foreignaidfreeze. This means no bed nets, indoor residual spraying, seasonal preventive treatments, or medicines getting to people - mostly kids and pregnant women.

Musk and his team are collecting lists of CDC employees with less than a year of service or in two-year probationary periods. The concerted effort to hollow out the federal workforce continues, now coming for public health. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

DOGE broadens sweep of federal agencies, gains access to health payment systems

Associates of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have fanned out across the federal government in recent days, alarming some career employees.

washingtonpost.com

The stop work order on foreign assistance and media blackout from CDC is already hampering the response to an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda www.cbsnews.com/news/some-u-...

As Trump shuts down USAID missions, officials warn Ebola outbreak in Uganda will spread

Americans are among those exposed to the virus in Uganda.

cbsnews.com

Alexander Tin@alexander-a-tin.bsky.social · 2y ago

It comes as officials warning of delays and chaotic U.S. response Contact tracers & airport screening is understaffed, as workers laid off or under stop work orders Uganda urged U.S.-funded workers to continue "in the spirit of patriotism as volunteers" www.cbsnews.com/news/some-u-...

A new Executive Order withdraws the US from the UN Human Rights Council also requires the State Department to review ALL international organizations and ALL conventions and treaties the US is party to, and determine which are “contrary to the interests of the US” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Withdrawing the United States from and Ending Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing United States Support to All International Organizations

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.

whitehouse.gov

Now Argentina, following in the Trump Administration's footsteps, says it will withdraw from the World Health Organization www.cnn.com/2025/02/05/a...

Argentina says it will pull out of World Health Organization | CNN

Argentina has announced it will pull out of the World Health Organization (WHO), mirroring a similar move by US President Donald Trump last month.

cnn.com

One-third of all US global health assistance, just over $4 billion per year, has been directed through USAID in recent years. Shuttering its maternal, child health, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and other programs will have predictable, terrible, results for those served. www.kff.org/interactive/...

About 50% of USAID global health staff - "roughly 450 technical experts" whose responsibilities cover areas such as HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases, have now been fired www.cbsnews.com/news/rubio-f...

Rubio foreign aid freeze leads to USAID staff suspensions and contractor terminations

Approximately 60 senior staff within USAID have been suspended, leaving the agency without clear leadership, five sources familiar with the internal action told CBS News.

cbsnews.com

Our latest KFF tracking poll on health information and trust highlights some trends about who the public trusts on health issues and how partisanship and trust play out in public health. www.kff.org/health-infor...

KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: January 2025 | KFF

As Senate hearings begin for President Trump’s health nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the latest KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust shows a decline in public trust for govern...

kff.org

The "pause" in foreign assistance put in place by the recent Trump Executive Order is more sweeping than it first appeared, with "stop-work" orders being put in place for existing spending in addition to stopping new spending. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...

State Department issues immediate, widespread pause on foreign aid

The “stop-work orders” appear to apply to US aid for all countries except Israel and Egypt.

politico.com

Trump just issued an EO on "Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid" that, among other things, calls for a 90-day pause in foreign assistance to assess alignment w/US policy and a review of each foreign assistance program. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

REEVALUATING AND REALIGNING UNITED STATES FOREIGN AID – The White House

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.

whitehouse.gov

Well, there it is. The Trump White House announces the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Pandemic Treaty negotiations. Funding to cease immediately and US personnel recalled from WHO www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

WITHDRAWING THE UNITED STATES FROM THE WORLDHEALTH ORGANIZATION – The White House

WITHDRAWING THE UNITED STATES FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the

whitehouse.gov

Among the day one actions of the Trump White House is the removal of a number of Biden Administration Executive Orders, including many related to COVID-19 response www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions – The White House

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as

whitehouse.gov

Based on his first term record and campaign statements, there are a bunch of executive actions President Trump may take on health care. We compiled them. www.kff.org/potential-he...

Potential Health Policy Administrative Actions in the Second Trump Administration | KFF

Potential health policy administrative actions under the incoming Trump administration based on campaign positions and statements by President-elect Trump, President Trump’s record during his first ad...

kff.org