Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Nominee RFK Jr. Won't Rule Out Seizing Drug Patents To Lower Prices
Politico: RFK Jr. Says He’s Open To Seizing Drug Patents
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed openness to adopting a key progressive proposal for lowering drug prices during a closed-door meeting with Senate Finance Committee staffers, according to three people familiar with the exchange, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about private discussions. President Donald Trump’s health secretary nominee last week indicated he’d consider authorizing the government to seize the patents of high-priced medicines from manufacturers and share them with other drug makers as a way to force down costs, said the three people. (Cai and Cancryn, 1/27)
Politico: ‘A Sign Of A Sickness’: Abortion Opponents Grapple With RFK Jr. Nomination
The nation’s leading anti-abortion groups are holding their fire in the battle over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the government’s health agencies, despite harboring serious concerns about his past support for abortion rights. Their reluctance to oppose Kennedy stems in part from the deference the anti-abortion movement feels it owes Trump after he nominated the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and took a slew of anti-abortion actions last week. (Payne and Ollstein, 1/27)
Stat: Analyzing RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Plans Ahead Of Hearings For Top Trump Health Role
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has insisted he doesn’t want to take away vaccines — he just wants to make sure they’re safe. But he has already sketched out a blueprint that could subject recommended vaccines to renewed scrutiny, redirect research, strip legal protections for vaccine makers, and change how vaccines are advertised. (Zhang and Owermohle, 1/28)
KFF Health News: What RFK Jr. Might Face In His Nomination Hearings This Week
President Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer with no formal medical or public health expertise, as secretary of Health and Human Sciences. Two Senate committees will question Kennedy this week on how his disproven views of science and medicine qualify him to run the $1.7 trillion, 80,000-employee federal health system. (Allen, 1/28)
More on vaccine skepticism —
CNN: Ahead Of RFK Jr. Confirmation Hearings, Poll Shows Nation Divided On Public Health
This week, Robert F. Kennedy – Trump’s highly controversial pick to lead public health agencies for the country as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services – faces members of Congress for his confirmation hearings. A new poll shows that less than half of US adults trust Trump and Kennedy to make the right recommendations on health issues, but views are split heavily along partisan lines – particularly regarding attitudes on vaccines, which have become a key concern surrounding Kennedy’s nomination. (McPhillips, 1/28)
AP: State Lawmakers Are Pushing For Vaccine Exemptions Even As Childhood Vaccination Rates Fall
Vaccination bills are popping up in more than 15 states as lawmakers aim to potentially resurrect or create new religious exemptions from immunization mandates, establish state-level vaccine injury databases or dictate what providers must tell patients about the shots. Many see a political opportunity to rewrite policies in their states after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s nomination as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. (Haigh and Shastri, 1/27)
Health News Florida: A Florida Bill Would Mandate That 'Edible Vaccines' Carry Proper Food Labeling
A Florida bill has been filed would require foods genetically engineered to contain vaccines “or vaccine material” to be labeled as such. The measure (SB 196), introduced Jan. 13 by Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, would revise the definition of “drug” to includes such edible vaccines. It would deem a drug misbranded “if it is a food containing a vaccine or vaccine material, but its label does not include specified information.” (Mayer, 1/27)
