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...

When it comes to vaccine schedules, the U.S. is now the outlier

A STAT analysis of vaccine recommendations in 38 countries suggests the U.S. is now an outlier.

statnews.com

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):

Kennedy Weakens U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

nytimes.com

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

Federal health officials slash recommended childhood vaccinations under Trump’s directive

The number of recommended childhood shots drops from 17 to 11.

statnews.com

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/... 🎁

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine (Gift Article)

A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

nytimes.com

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...

CDC panel recommends delaying birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine

The CDC's ACIP panel voted to recommend delaying the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, ending a policy that has reined in the virus.

statnews.com

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...

Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act’s preventive-care mandate

The challengers argued that members of the Preventive Services Task Force were improperly appointed because they were not approved by the Senate.

washingtonpost.com

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...

HHS abruptly calls off meeting of expert panel on preventive care, raising questions about its future | CNN

The US Department of Health and Human Services called off an upcoming meeting of expert advisers on preventive health care, raising questions about the future of the longtime, nonpolitical advisory gr...

cnn.com

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...

Gilead to provide HIV prevention drug to 2 million people in lower-income countries at cost

Gilead announced a deal to get its groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to lower income countries. Notably, the deal does not include PEPFAR.

statnews.com

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...

Global Fund Secures Access to Breakthrough HIV Prevention Drug Lenacapavir for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) today announced it has signed an access agreement with Gilead Sciences to procure lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable for HI...

theglobalfund.org

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

Opinion | We’ve Never Seen Health Care Cuts This Big

nytimes.com

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...

Supreme Court rejects challenge to free preventive care, bolsters RFK Jr.'s power

The SCOTUS decision preserves free preventive health care and sets the stage for a bigger role for RFK Jr. in determining what's covered.

statnews.com

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...

Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act’s preventive-care mandate

The challengers argued that members of the Preventive Services Task Force were improperly appointed because they were not approved by the Senate.

washingtonpost.com

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...

Kennedy’s New Advisers to Broaden Scrutiny of Childhood Vaccines

nytimes.com

“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.”

Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support

nytimes.com

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...

Regulators Approve a Twice-Yearly Shot to Prevent H.I.V. Infection

nytimes.com

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

10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut bill, CBO projects

'Big, beautiful bill' would result in 10.9 million people losing health insurance, primarily Medicaid.

buff.ly

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...

Trump Budget Eliminates Funding for Crucial Global Vaccination Programs

nytimes.com

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...

Measles Surge in Southwest Is Now the Largest Single Outbreak Since 2000 (Gift Article)

Growing case numbers suggest that the national total will surpass that seen during the last large outbreak in 2019.

nytimes.com

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...

Former Trump official warns president he’s at risk of ruining his legacy on ending HIV

DOGE's funding cuts threaten to undo progress toward curbing HIV, a former top Trump official warned.

statnews.com

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

NIH autism study will pull from private medical records

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

npr.org

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/...

The influence of epidemiological context on the success of partner notification programs: analysis of gonorrhea transmission dynamics

We estimated IRR of 0.97 (95% range 0.93­-0.99) for a 10% relative increase in partner notification coverage. Our findings support prior population-level e

academic.oup.com

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 🩺📊

Use of No-Cost Preventive Services Jeopardized by Kennedy v Braidwood

This cross-sectional study analyzes the use of 10 no-cost preventive services by individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance, which may be threatened by the upcoming Kennedy v Braidwood Supre...

ja.ma

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 🩺📊

Use of No-Cost Preventive Services Jeopardized by Kennedy v Braidwood

This cross-sectional study analyzes the use of 10 no-cost preventive services by individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance, which may be threatened by the upcoming Kennedy v Braidwood Supre...

ja.ma

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

Hank Green@hankgreen.bsky.social · last yr.

A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die. Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.