Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
With Nearly 1,000 Infections, Measles Tally Is Outpacing 2025's Case Count
NBC News: U.S. Closes In On 1,000 Measles Cases In First Two Months Of 2026
The U.S. has officially logged 982 measles cases in 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. It’s more than four times the number of cases as this time last year, when a large outbreak was just beginning in West Texas. Twenty-six states have reported cases so far this year. Large outbreaks continue to grow in Utah, Arizona and, most notably, South Carolina, where the virus has been spreading since the fall. As of Friday, the state had reported nearly 800 cases since January, bringing the outbreak’s total to 973. (Edwards, 2/21)
On the flu —
CIDRAP: Flu Claims 5 More US Children’s Lives As Virus Continues Circulating At Moderate To Very High Levels
Five more children died of influenza in the United States last week, for a season total of 71, as viral activity stays high across much of the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today in its weekly FluView update. The 2024-25 flu season saw a total of 289 child deaths—the most reported in a non-pandemic flu season since the CDC began tracking pediatric flu deaths in 2004. (Van Beusekom, 2/20)
The Washington Post: Inside RFK Jr.’s Long-Running Crusade Against The Flu Vaccine
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years campaigning against vaccines, but with the flu shot, he’s suggested it’s personal. Kennedy has linked his strained, raspy speech to the vaccine, despite several medical experts saying there is no scientific evidence to support that claim. Federal guidance revised under Kennedy last month, while the United States is experiencing a hard-hitting flu season, no longer recommends routine flu vaccines for children and adolescents. The day after he assumed office a year ago, he ordered the end of a government ad campaign encouraging flu vaccination. (Weber, Sun and Gilbert, 2/21)
In related news on RFK Jr. and MAHA —
Politico: RFK Jr.’s Days Of Going Wild On Health May Be Over
Year two of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as health secretary is already yielding some wins — but not for him and his Make America Healthy Again movement. Instead, the agriculture and pharmaceutical industries he’s long targeted are breathing a sigh of relief as the White House signals it’s reining in Kennedy’s attacks on their products and tasking him with touting healthy eating and President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut drug price deals. (Chu, 2/21)
Politico: Trump’s Law Is Crushing The Next Generation Of RFK Jr. Disciples
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made it his Make America Healthy Again mission to challenge the medical establishment. President Donald Trump’s signature law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, could entrench it. Kennedy sees America’s medical schools as bastions of groupthink that ignore the root causes of disease. But newly proposed caps on student loans that stem from the law would favor establishment institutions over nontraditional schools aligned with Kennedy’s view that Americans are sicker than ever because of what they eat, the chemicals they’re exposed to, and how little exercise they get. (Chu, 2/23)
KFF Health News: As More Americans Embrace Anxiety Treatment, MAHA Derides Medications
After a grueling year of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation to treat breast cancer, Sadia Zapp was anxious — not the manageable hum that had long been part of her life, but something deeper, more distracting. “Every little ache, like my knee hurts,” she said, made her worry that “this is the end of the road for me.” So Zapp, a 40-year-old communications director in New York, became one of millions of Americans to start taking an anxiety medication in recent years. For her, it was the serotonin-boosting drug Lexapro. (Reese, 2/23)
On covid and the pandemic —
NOTUS: FEMA Still Hasn’t Reimbursed Hospitals For COVID-19 Work
In late January, U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-NY, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, inquired about the status of more than $1 billion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had still not paid to New York health systems for COVID-19 expenses dating back to 2020. Garbarino told NOTUS he is “still working with” the agency to obtain the documentation he requested in January to investigate the situation. The money still hasn’t been disbursed. (Banks, 2/19)
Politico: RFK Jr.’s Billionaire Running Mate Is Making A Comedy About The Pandemic
Covid contrarians tight with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are pitching Hollywood on an unlikely leading man: National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya. Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate in the 2024 presidential campaign, is searching for investors to fund a movie that pokes fun at the pandemic response with a star based on Bhattacharya, who rose to prominence with his anti-lockdown manifesto and relentless tweets opposing social distancing. (Hooper, 2/22)
CIDRAP: Studies Suggest COVID Vaccination In Pregnancy Cuts Risk Of Preeclampsia, Doesn’t Cause Miscarriage
Two studies examined the effects of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy, with one estimating that full vaccination and a booster dose reduce the risk of preeclampsia (PE) by 15% and 33%, respectively, and the other finding no elevated risk of miscarriage before 20 weeks’ gestation among pregnant or soon-to-be-pregnant recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. (Van Beusekom, 2/19)
CIDRAP: HIV Infection Linked To Increased Risk Of Long COVID
People with HIV (PWH) had a significantly higher risk of developing long COVID across multiple organ systems than people without HIV (PWoH), according to a large cohort study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. (Bergeson, 2/20)
