Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Revised Charters Spark Concerns About Direction RFK Jr. Is Taking Vaccine Panels
MedPage Today: HHS Changes Two Vaccine Committee Charters
HHS has altered the charters of two vaccine-related committees: the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC). The timing isn't unusual, as both charters are up for renewal, said Richard Hughes IV, JD, MPH, the attorney leading the American Academy of Pediatrics' lawsuit against HHS changes to vaccine policy. (Fiore, 7/23)
More news about the Trump administration —
The Washington Post: Education Dept. Eliminates Tool Used To Prove Racial Discrimination
The Education Department on Thursday killed decades-old rules that have allowed statistical disparities to be used as proof of racial discrimination, the most recent move by the Trump administration to overhaul the government’s enforcement of civil rights law. The move follows years of conservative complaints about “disparate impact analysis,” which incorporates use of data to show discrimination. (Meckler, 7/23)
Stat: Trump Administration Science Manifesto Draws Mixed Reaction
For 18 months, the Trump administration has been accused by science advocates of shredding a social contract between academic researchers and the federal government that made the United States the world’s most powerful engine of discovery. Now it’s proposing a way to rebuild American science. (Oza, 7/24)
Bloomberg: Hidden Cost Of Trump’s USAID Cuts: Floods, Disease And Poverty
James Mwazighe watched the flood waters nearly engulf his daughter’s bed as seasonal rains swept across southern Kenya in March. Jane, his usually playful 2-year-old, lay writhing in pain from malaria, her tiny body ravaged by severe diarrhea. His nearby farmland — normally a bounty of bananas, maize and beans — was a swamp. (Sanchez, Marks and Karra, 7/23)
The latest on the cyclosporiasis outbreak —
The Washington Post: CDC Expands Largest Known U.S. Cyclospora Outbreak To 9 States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked four additional states to a multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak traced to shredded iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico, according to two individuals familiar with the investigation. The newly linked states — Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania — join Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, and expand the nation’s largest known cyclosporasis outbreak. (Sun and Ye, 7/24)
CNBC: Cyclospora Outbreak Tests RFK Jr.’s Promise To Overhaul Food System, Rebuild Trust In CDC
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the helm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year promising to overhaul the U.S. food system and restore confidence in the agencies that oversee it. “It is difficult to quantify precisely, but it is clear that the cuts to federal funding over the past year or so have reduced our capacity to respond to outbreaks like this,” said Craig Hedberg, co-director of the Minnesota Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence. (Peebles, 7/23)
The Hill: How DOGE Ending USAID Hit US Efforts On Cyclospora Outbreak
When the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) last year, it set off a chain of events that is still being felt in the sluggish federal response to a record number of cyclosporiasis infections. (Weixel, 7/23)
