Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Pediatricians Must Show Empathy In Vaccine Talks; Altering The Vaccine Schedule Puts Children At Risk
Stat: How Pediatricians Should And Shouldn’t Talk To Parents About Vaccines
In 1993, a young couple expecting their first child walked into my office. As the new pediatric residency director at the University of California San Diego, I was eager to help them find the right doctor for their family. With my own pediatrics career just beginning, I was especially hopeful it would be me. (Richard Besser, 1/6)
Bloomberg: Vaccine Schedule Changes Will Make American Children Suffer Again
By making sweeping changes to the nation’s childhood vaccine schedule, America’s top health leaders are recklessly minimizing the threat of previously common diseases and dismissing our collective role in preventing them. (Lisa Jarvis, 1/7)
CIDRAP: Quiet Dismantling: How ‘Shared Decision-Making’ Weakens Vaccine Policy And Harms Kids
Some will argue this is a distinction without a difference, that vaccines remain available and covered regardless of recommendation category, and that patients who want them can still receive them. This misunderstands how recommendations function in practice. ... By mandating an individual deliberation for every dose, the designation creates a logistical bottleneck. A physician must be physically involved in every vaccination decision, drastically reducing throughput in busy clinics. (Jake Scott, MD, 1/6)
The Washington Post: America Invents These Drugs. Why Doesn't It Make Them?
The United States leads the world in pharmaceutical innovation. But it is less successful in manufacturing generic versions of the very same lifesaving medicines it invented, often leaving Americans’ treatment dependent on foreign companies whose drug formulations and processes undergo little regulatory scrutiny. (Richard L. Jackson, 1/6)
Stat: Kennedy's SSRI Rhetoric Fuels Distrust Amid Teen Mental Health Crisis
While his war on vaccines may be getting more attention, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is coming for another important medical tool: antidepressants. In November, he posted on X that the CDC is “finally confronting the long-taboo question of whether SSRIs and other psychoactive drugs contribute to mass violence.” We fear that in 2026, he may turn his rhetoric into action. (Stephen B. Soumerai and Christine Y. Lu, 1/7)
