How did a false allegation lead to Pete Buttigieg's separation from his kids? Our exclusive reporting shows how authorities did not take steps to vet the caller who left her contact. We found the caller who said she wanted to thwart his White House ambitions. Gift link: wapo.st/45ok5XP

Source of false Buttigieg allegation appeared ‘mentally unstable,’ records show

The Michigan attorney general’s office is investigating how the accusation that prompted the ex-Cabinet secretary's separation from his 4-year-old twins was handled.

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UPDATE TAYLOR FARMS: Hours after company says it is voluntarily pulling lettuce from Mexico, Taylor Farms tells FDA it will initiate a recall. No additional details on what products. Our story updated 👇

Lena Sun@lenasun.bsky.social · 3w ago

BREAKING: Taylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. market in cyclosporiasis investigation. AND Sysco, a huge food supplier, has stopped distributing Taylor Farms processed iceberg lettuce products frm Mexico. Our story. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

With the terrible, horrible very bad air in so much of the US, here is a video I made showing how you can make your own air filter for cleaner air. At home. With just a few items. (I made it during pandemic but it works for any time you want cleaner air.) www.washingtonpost.com/video/scienc...

How to make an air cleaner to get better indoor air quality

An air cleaner can help remove indoor pollutants and reduce the spread of pathogens such as the coronavirus. Washington Post reporter Lena Sun demonstrates how to make a Corsi-Rosenthal box using MERV...

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BREAKING: Taylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. market in cyclosporiasis investigation. AND Sysco, a huge food supplier, has stopped distributing Taylor Farms processed iceberg lettuce products frm Mexico. Our story. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Taylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. market

The CDC and FDA advised consumers to avoid eating shredded iceburg lettuce from Taco Bell as it investigates a parasitic outbreak that has sickened thousands.

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SCOOP: Federal and state health officials are investigating whether Taco Bell restaurants played role in one of the largest US outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, per my sources. Meanwhile Michigan says lettuce or salad greens are potential outbreak source. My story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Authorities investigate Taco Bell and lettuce in multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak

Authorities have not yet identified a produce grower or supplier responsible for the outbreak that has hospitalized more than 80 people.

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The last polio survivor in America to depend on an iron lung, Martha Ann Lillard, has died. She recalled the day in 1953 when she knew she had polio. "I got it on my fifth birthday." https://www.kxan.com/top-stories/last-american-polio-survivor-in-an-iron-lung-dies-at-78/

NEW: The US is now on track to surpass last year’s total measles cases. In roughly half the time, setting a new record. Why? And what does this mean for parents and doctors? My story. 1/3 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Why U.S. measles outbreaks have grown harder to extinguish

The nation is already nearing last year’s record case total, and experts say the virus is forcing doctors to relearn a disease many thought had been consigned to history.

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As @lenasun.bsky.social reports, this article used well-accepted methods and stood up to peer review. Acting CDC Director Bhattacharya said he had concerns about the methodology but never explained them. He is an economist, not trained in epidemiology. wapo.st/4aMg6rc

CDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal.

The study found that the vaccine reduced the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half last winter.

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NEW: CDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal. The study in JAMA Network Open used the same methodology that CDC’s Jay Bhattacharya criticized when the paper was not allowed to be published in CDC’s MMWR. My story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

CDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal.

The study found that the vaccine reduced the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half last winter.

washingtonpost.com

Summer solstice still life. Feeeze wiped out entire crop of sour cherries in our area (along with local peaches and nectarines). Some farms in Pennsylvania survived. These Montmarency aren’t as good as the Jubileum cherries one local farm has. Still, nothing says summer like tart cherries.

As we approach America250, I wish to point out that if not for woke George Washington mandating that his troops be inoculated against smallpox, we probably wouldn’t have made it to America001.

Now, @lenasun.bsky.social & @rachelroubein.bsky.social at @washingtonpost.com show that, because of the backlash, RFK Jr. has shifted to coming after your vaccines on the down-low. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda alive

The public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story.

washingtonpost.com

Important story from @lenasun.bsky.social and @rachelroubein.bsky.social: Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda alive The public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda alive

The public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story.

washingtonpost.com

NEW: RFK’s public effort to revamp US policy has quieted. But outside public eye, RFK + allies are embedding his agenda in institutions that decide what vaccines get studied, who does the research, and how that becomes policy. @rachelroubein.bsky.social 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda alive

The public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story.

washingtonpost.com

NEW: Congo outbreak could rival the largest Ebola epidemic on record, CDC warns. That epidemic in West Africa infected more than 28,000 people and killed more than 11,000 by the time it was over in 2016. My latest. 1/3 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Congo outbreak could rival the largest Ebola epidemic on record, CDC warns

In one worst-case scenario projected, more than 20,000 cases would occur within three months if only 1 in 5 infected people are identified and isolated within two days.

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NEW: White House initially pushed aggressive monitoring of US hantavirus passengers who left Nebraska facility to finish quarantine at home, incl posting armed guards outside homes, before backing off. W @Bradydennis.bsky.social @RachelRoubein.bsky.Social 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Officials divided over monitoring of hantavirus passengers who could soon return home

White House officials have been pushing for aggressive monitoring at home for those who return from the quarantine facility, but has retreated from initial proposals. Negotiations are ongoing with sta...

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SCOOP: White House resisted letting doctor with Ebola return to U.S. Our story. Me and @laurenweberhp.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

White House resisted letting doctor with Ebola return to U.S.

The administration’s reluctance to bring an infected American back to U.S. soil marked a sharp contrast with the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak.

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Forced to dance for Mengele at Auschwitz, she was called to help others heal. Obit of Edith Eger, what she endured, what she chose to become afterwards, expands your sense of what a human can survive without losing their humanity. @harrisondsmith.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Forced to dance for Mengele at Auschwitz, she was called to help others heal

Psychologist Edith Eger, who has died at 98, treated veterans and abuse victims. She had to heal herself first, she said, to truly help her patients.

washingtonpost.com

NEW: Trump administration decision to drop longstanding universal birth dose of hep B vaccine likely to lead to more infections among children, —>liver cancer cases, deaths, + millions in extra hc costs, per new studies. My latest 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

CDC delay of infant hepatitis B shot likely to raise infections, studies show

Federal vaccine advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted in December to recommend delaying the first shot until at least two months of age for infants born to mothers who test negative...

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SCOOP: Two weeks ago, the head of the CDC delayed publication of a report showing covid vaccine cut likelihood of ER visits and hospitalizations by half. Now that report is no longer allowed to be published in CDC’s flagship scientific journal. My latest. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

CDC won’t publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visits

The report, which had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, had been delayed. It now won’t be published at all, people familiar with the decision told The Post.

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Deep dive on RFK Jr’s new food stamp rules are v confusing. Hannah Hansen, single mom of four, said her food stamps didn’t cover sweetened wild cherry sparkling water or semisweet chocolate chips for baking, but paid for ultra-processed items like “chips and cookies.” @rachelroubein.bsky.social

Rachel Roubein@rachelroubein.bsky.social · 4mo ago

KitKat, Gatorade or granola bars? Pushed by RFK Jr., what’s banned under new food stamp rules has been mixed, leading to maze of new restrictions. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

ICYMI: The White House is considering Erica Schwartz, frmer deputy surgeon general in Trump’s first term, to be director of @CDCgov. Also weighing 3 others for senior team, incl Texas health commish Jennifer Shuford. @ddiamond.bsky.social and me. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

White House favors Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general, to lead CDC

Schwartz would be Trump’s third nominee to lead the agency. The administration is also said to be looking at three other people to serve in senior roles supporting her.

washingtonpost.com

NEWS - Erica Schwartz, former deputy US surgeon general, is favored candidate to lead CDC former Walmart exec Sean Slovenski favored as a top deputy still pending Trump's approval w @lenasun.bsky.social

White House favors Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general, to lead CDC

Schwartz would be Trump’s third nominee to lead the CDC. She left government in 2021, after the Biden administration passed her over for acting U.S. surgeon general.

washingtonpost.com

SCOOP: The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed publication of a CDC report showing covid-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of ED visits + hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half. My latest. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Cecillia Wang was born in Oregon after her parents legally emigrated from Taiwan, making her a U.S. citizen by birth. Now, she is set to appear before the Supreme Court to address a question fundamental to the nation and her family: Who deserves to be an American? https://wapo.st/4uU4bAd

One of the best times of the year in the DC area. Cherry blossoms in so many neighborhoods.

NEW: White House faces fast-approaching deadline to name CDC director. Here are three ppl being considered. w/ @ddiamond.bsky.social @rachelroubein.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

White House navigates vaccine politics, midterm risks in CDC director search

The Trump administration faces complicated political dynamics as it seeks someone to helm the key public health agency suffering a prolonged leadership vacuum.

washingtonpost.com

SCOOP: A key federal vaccine panel has abandoned an attack on covid-19 mRNA vaccines — a shift that comes as some GOP warn that any more changes to vaccine policy could damage midterm prospects. Me + @rachelroubein.bsky.com www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers drop proposal to revisit covid-19 shot

Some members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel have publicly questioned the safety and manufacturing of the shots, including raising a debunked theory that DNA contaminants in the vaccines are harmf...

washingtonpost.com

NEW: A new poll shows who Americans trust over the CDC. Survey reveals substantial gap between the major professional health associations and CDC, FDA and NIH. My story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

A new poll shows who Americans trust over the CDC

The new findings come after the Trump administration in January took the unprecedented step of overhauling the CDC’s routine childhood immunization schedule.

washingtonpost.com

Nice reporting by @lenasun.bsky.social and colleagues about the irrational and deceptive arguments that RFK Jr has used to take away the recommendation for routine influenza vaccine. Meantime, we have seen many unvaccinated kids with flu in the ICU, on ECMO, and who died. wapo.st/46jSng1

Inside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice condition

Trump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.

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