Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
MRNA Research Might Be Next On List Of NIH Grant Cuts
NPR: NIH Cuts Off More Research Funding, Including For Vaccine Hesitancy. MRNA May Be Next
The NIH's acting director Dr. Matthew Memoli requested information last week about the funding that supports mRNA vaccine research, technology that underpins the COVID-19 shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, according to an email reviewed by NPR. (Stein and Stone, 3/12)
Stat: Harvard Medical Physicians Sue Over Removal Of Articles Mentioning ‘LGBTQ’ From Government Website
Two physicians are suing the Trump administration over the removal of two research papers from a government website, because they included the terms “LGBTQ” and “trans(gender).” One of the articles removed was a commentary about endometriosis diagnosis. The other article was about assessing suicide risk in patients. (Oza, 3/12)
The Washington Post: Funding Freeze Leaves Fulbright And Study-Abroad Scholars Stranded
Her Fulbright fellowship stipend from the federal government was already days late when the email arrived. “As with many federal agencies, State Department funding has been temporarily paused,” began the message, landing March 1 in the inbox of Maaya Prasad, who grew up in Virginia but now lives thousands of miles away in Mauritius studying microplastics. She was expecting about $6,000. Instead, she got closer to $500, she said, and no word on when she might see the rest. (George, 3/11)
Stat: Top Addiction Researcher On RFK Jr., Recovery And Overdose Deaths
Nora Volkow, the federal government’s top drug addiction researcher, laughed when asked how a spate of recent policy changes at the National Institutes of Health had affected her day-to-day work. “They have increased my blood pressure and heart rate,” Volkow said before declining to answer specific questions about Trump administration policy changes, instead referring them to the Department of Health and Human Services, the NIH’s parent agency. (Facher, 3/13)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: Retractions, Walkouts Plague Science Journals Eager To Churn Out Research
Some scientists say the for-profit industry’s fast growth makes it harder to police fraud and low-quality work. (Subbaraman, 3/13)
