The Washington Post: CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel Meeting Postponed Indefinitely
The Trump administration has directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to indefinitely postpone a public meeting of its vaccine advisory panel, a key forum for the nation’s discussion of information about vaccine safety and effectiveness. The decision came Thursday from officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC’s parent agency, led by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who has long criticized the panel and the CDC. (Sun and Nirappil, 2/20)

Fierce Healthcare: Trump Cuts Long COVID, Health Equity Committees In New EO
President Donald Trump has terminated two advisory committees within the Department of Health and Human Services, one on long COVID and another on health equity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The advisory committees were cut in an executive order released late Wednesday night, Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," that broadly seeks to cut “unnecessary” programs to decrease government waste and lower inflation. The order targets advisory committees and programs across federal agencies. (Beavins, 2/20)

Politico: RFK Jr. Prepares Shake-Up Of Vaccine Advisers
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to remove members of the outside committees that advise the federal government on vaccine approvals and other key public health decisions, according to two people familiar with the planning. Kennedy plans to replace members who he perceives to have conflicts of interest, as part of a widespread effort to minimize what he’s criticized as undue industry influence over the nation’s health agencies, said one of the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. (Cancryn, Gardner and Lim, 2/20)

On FDA leadership —

Bloomberg: Lawyer Kyle Diamantas Will Become Top Food Regulator At FDA
Attorney Kyle Diamantas is expected to be announced as the new deputy commissioner for human foods at the US Food and Drug Administration following his predecessor’s resignation earlier this week, sources familiar with the decision said. Diamantas is registered as an attorney in Florida, and is currently listed as a special assistant in the FDA commissioner’s office, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ employee directory. (Cohrs Zhang, Shanker and Edney, 2/20)

On research and funding cuts —

Stat: Trump NIH Research Cuts: What's At Stake In Friday's Court Hearing 
A federal judge will hear arguments on Friday in the first hearing on three separate lawsuits filed to block the Trump administration’s plan to sharply cut the amount the National Institutes of Health pays universities and other research institutions for overhead costs. (Oza, 2/20)

Politico: DOGE Cancels Federal Contract For 9/11 Research
News that the Trump administration canceled a $257,000 federal contract for research on 9/11-related diseases drew widespread condemnation Thursday among New York Democrats. The contract would have paid for data processing work to compare cancer incidence rates among firefighters exposed to the World Trade Center toxins to firefighters in three other U.S. cities who were not exposed. (Kaufman, 2/20)

Bloomberg: Trump Hiring Freeze Spurs Hundreds Of Cuts In VA Health Research
President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze is forcing terminations at the US Department of Veterans Affairs research office, jeopardizing projects that advance treatments for cancer, drug withdrawal and more. While doctors, nurses and other medical staff have been exempt from the Trump administration’s broad hiring halt and workforce cuts, the VA’s Office of Research and Development — one of the largest hubs for medical research in the world — was told it couldn’t keep researchers as their appointments end. Initial guidance had suggested that those jobs would also be protected. (Eidelson and Alexander, 2/20)

MedPage Today: Researchers Refuse To Alter Patient Safety Papers To Comply With Trump Orders
Some researchers who have published on a government patient safety website are refusing to alter their reports to comply with Trump administration executive orders around language, leaving them offline. Gordon Schiff, MD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the author of a 2022 case report and commentary on suicide risk assessment that includes a line noting several groups at high risk of suicide, including the LGBTQ community. Rather than remove the line, the piece remains off the Patient Safety Network site, which is part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (Henderson, 2/20)

Stat: National Academies Replacing Words In Pending Reports, Some Members Say
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine is scrubbing pending reports of words such as “health equity,” “marginalized populations,” and “restorative justice” and replacing them with vaguer terms in an effort to appease the Trump administration, according to a letter protesting the actions sent to the organization’s leaders and obtained by STAT. (McFarling, 2/20)

Talk to us —

We’d like to speak with personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies about what’s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message us on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or get in touch here.

NBC News: House Republicans Representing Large Shares Of Medicaid, SNAP Beneficiaries Face Tough Budget Test
There are a handful of House Republicans who represent parts of the country where sizable shares of the populations receive government assistance from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to an NBC News analysis of the most recently available Census Bureau data. The lawmakers from the 10 GOP-held districts with the highest percentages of Medicaid or SNAP beneficiaries span the ideological and geographical spectrum. They include members from deep-red districts, such as Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, as well as those in competitive battlegrounds, such as Reps. David Valadao of California. (Zanona, Kapur and Kamisar, 2/21)

Politico: David Valadao Treads Lightly On Medicaid As Obamacare Vote Haunts Him
[California] Rep. David Valadao’s vote to repeal Obamacare may have cost him his seat in 2018. He’s not eager to repeat that mistake. The Republican representative, whose Central Valley district is being bombarded with TV ads pressuring him not to slash Medicaid, is parrying the Democratic-led campaign by withholding his support for a House resolution to cut at least $1.5 trillion from the federal budget — a goal that would be impossible to meet without reductions to the popular health care program. (Jones, 2/20)

KFF Health News: GOP Takes Aim At Medicaid, Putting Enrollees And Providers At Risk
Medicaid is under threat — again. Republicans, who narrowly control Congress, are pushing proposals that could sharply cut funding to the government health insurance program for poor and disabled Americans, as a way to finance President Donald Trump’s agenda for tax cuts and border security. Democrats, hoping to block the GOP’s plans and preserve Medicaid funding, are rallying support from hospitals, governors, and consumer advocates. (Galewitz, 2/21)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Medicaid In The Crosshairs, Maybe
President Donald Trump has said he won’t support major cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program for people with low incomes, but he has endorsed a House budget plan that calls for major cuts, leaving the program’s future in doubt. Meanwhile, thousands of workers at the Department of Health and Human Services were fired over the holiday weekend, from the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with possibly more cuts to come. (Rovner, 2/19)

In related news —

AP: Kids’ Disability Rights Cases Stalled As Trump Began To Overhaul Education Department
It was obvious to Christine Smith Olsey that her son was not doing well at school, despite educators telling her to leave it to the experts. The second-grade student stumbled over words, and other kids teased him so much he started to call himself “an idiot.” Though her son had been receiving speech and occupational therapy, Smith Olsey said his Denver charter school resisted her requests for additional academic support. She filed a complaint with the state and then, in September, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. In January, her son’s case came to a halt. (Hollingsworth, Binkley and Ma, 2/20)

ABC News: Drug Overdose Deaths Fall In 2023 For 1st Time Since Pandemic Began: CDC
Rates of drug overdose deaths decreased in the United States for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to new federal data published early Thursday. The rate of overdose deaths fell from 32.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022 to 31.3 per 100,000 people in 2023, a 4% decrease, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. (Kekatos, 2/20)

Axios: Fatal Drug Overdoses Are Falling — But Not Everywhere
States like Alaska, Oregon and Washington bucked the national trend, reporting major increases in their fatal OD rates. Even their absolute numbers are relatively high: 2023 saw 49.4 fatal overdoses per 100,000 people in Alaska, 40.8 in Oregon, and 42.4 in Washington, compared to 31.3 nationally. (Fitzpatrick, 2/20)

In other health and wellness news —

Newsweek: Blind Children See After 'Remarkable' Rare Eye Disorder Breakthrough
Children with a rare form of eye disorder who were born blind can now see thanks to a "remarkable" gene therapy breakthrough. Researchers from London's Moorfields Eye Hospital, biotech firm MeiraGTx and University College London have demonstrated that their therapy is both safe and effective in improving the vision of and slowing retinal deterioration in young patients born with "LCA-AIPL1." This previously untreatable genetic disorder, which affects some 2–3 of every 10 million newborns, leads to profound visual impairments and legal blindness. (Randall, 2/21)

AP: Workers And Labor Unions Take A Stand For The Right To Sit Down
Standing for long periods can lead to low back pain, fatigue, muscle pain and leg swelling, and it can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and pregnancy complications, according to a review conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. ... Being on one’s feet for an extended time also can lead to chronic venous insufficiency, a disease in which damaged veins impact blood circulation, according to the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, which represents operating room nurses. (Bussewitz, 2/20)

The Washington Post: People With Narcissistic Traits More Likely To Feel Excluded, Study Finds
Narcissists. The scheming, self-centered, much maligned and overdiagnosed personality types are not often the subject of sympathy. But a new study has cast people with narcissistic personality traits in a new light — as feeling more excluded than their peers and stuck in a behavioral doom loop they can’t easily escape. That’s according to research published Thursday in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that shows people with narcissistic personality traits feel ostracized more often than their less self-absorbed peers. (Craw, 2/20)

The Baltimore Sun: Luigi Mangione Due In Court Friday As New Website Raises Questions About His Defense Strategy
When last seen publicly in December in a Manhattan courtroom, Luigi Mangione both pleaded not guilty to murder and spawned a sellout of the burgundy sweater he was wearing. Since then, the 26-year-old Towson native and 2016 Gilman valedictorian accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, has been the silent center of a much-watched case, an outlaw hero to some who share his apparent rage at the health insurance industry. But the silence is lifting. Not only is Mangione due in court again on Friday for a pretrial hearing, his defense lawyers last week launched a website to deliver a statement from him, provide links to the criminal cases against him in three different courts (along with maps to the courthouses for upcoming hearings) and answer questions such as how to contribute to his defense fund (GiveSendGo) or send him photos (Shutterfly and FreePrints). (Marbella, 2/20)

More health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: DOJ Charges Marketers With $162M Exchange Fraud Scam
The U.S. Justice Department alleges two insurance marketers defrauded the federal government of $161.9 million by improperly signing up low-income consumers in subsidized health insurance exchange plans. Federal investigators charged Cory Lloyd, 46, of Stuart, Florida, and Steven Strong, 42, of Mansfield, Texas, with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, the agency announced in a news release Thursday. If convicted, Lloyd and Strong could face up to 35 years in prison, according to the release. (Tepper, 2/20)

Modern Healthcare: CVS Health, Emory Expand MinuteClinic Primary Care Services
CVS Health's MinuteClinic is collaborating with Emory Healthcare Network to extend primary care services to more patients in Georgia. With the new partnership, MinuteClinic now offers in-network primary care services at all 35 clinics in the state to most payers through Emory's integrated network. Patients also have access to Emory's network of acute care, specialty care, labs, radiology and diagnostic services, according to a Thursday news release. (Hudson, 2/20)

Modern Healthcare: HCA, Community Health Systems Battle High Specialist Fees
The high cost of employing third-party specialists is expected to create more financial headaches for health systems this year, despite ongoing work to mitigate the impact. Health systems often enlist third-party staffing companies and independent practices to fill openings for hospital-based physicians in specialties such as emergency medicine and anesthesiology. (Hudson, 2/20)

Axios: Global Warming Has Deadly Toll On Hospitals, Study Says
Heat waves can gum up hospitals enough to bring deadly consequences even beyond patients directly afflicted, a new study finds. It's the first estimate of extreme heat that "unpacks the direct from the indirect effects that arise due to hospital congestion," it states. (Geman, 2/20)

St. Louis Public Radio: Trial To Decide Missouri’s Abortion Ban Set For Next Year 
A judge in Kansas City has scheduled a trial for early next year that could permanently overturn Missouri’s abortion ban. Late last week, preliminary orders from Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang put a temporary hold on licensing restrictions, clearing the way for abortions to resume in Missouri. Zhang had previously put a hold on the state’s ban after Missourians in November passed a ballot initiative to protect the right to an abortion. But a full trial – now scheduled for January 2026 – is still needed to make those changes permanent. (Fentem, 2/20)

WUSF: Democrat Lawmakers File Long-Shot Bills To Reverse Florida's Six-Week Abortion Law
Democrat lawmakers on Wednesday filed legislation that would repeal of Florida’s six-week abortion law that was enacted in May. The bills (SB 870, HB 741), sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, and House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, would allow abortion until viability, which in Florida is considered 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. (Corum, 2/20)

More health news from across the U.S. —

CBS News: Colorado Bill Protecting Disabled People From Institutionalization Advances
Protection from institutionalization for disabled people is a right that has been federally guaranteed since a 1999 Supreme Court case. Now, Colorado disability advocates are one step closer to getting that right enshrined into state law, with a bill that passed a Colorado House of Representatives committee this week. (Young, 2/20)

The New York Times: Will New York Force More Mentally Ill People Into Treatment?
It is a nightmare that plays out on the streets and subways every few months: A homeless person with a history of mental illness or violence falls through the cracks or wanders away from the system intended to help him, surfaces in a psychotic rage and attacks a random New Yorker. Though they make up a tiny fraction of crimes, the unpredictable attacks feed perceptions that the city is unsafe and stir demands for action. (Oreskes and Newman, 2/21)

The Hill: New York Sues Major Vape Companies For Targeting Kids, Teens
New York is suing some of the largest vape distributors for allegedly fueling the country’s youth vaping epidemic. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit against 13 major e-cigarette manufacturers, distributors and retailers for illegally marketing and selling popular flavored vape brands like Puff Bar and Elf Bar to minors. Selling flavored nicotine vapes has been banned in New York since 2020, but the products can still be found in corner stores and smoke shops in the city. (O’Connell-Domenech, 2/20)

Health News Florida: Florida Bill Would Create Medicaid Exception To 'Step Therapy' For Psychiatric Medications 
A Senate committee Wednesday approved a proposal that supporters said would help Medicaid beneficiaries with mental illnesses get prescription drugs they need. The Senate Health Policy Committee unanimously approved the proposal (SB 264), which Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, has filed for the legislative session that will start March 4. (2/20)

News Service of Florida: Florida Lawmakers Could Open Door For 'Granny Cams' In Nursing Homes
Amid debate about issues such as privacy and protecting vulnerable seniors, a House panel Thursday approved a proposal that would require nursing homes and assisted living facilities to allow video cameras and other electronic monitoring devices in residents’ rooms. Some nursing homes and assisted living facilities already allow family members and other representatives of residents to install what are often known as “granny cams” in rooms. (Saunders, 2/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Paxlovid Does Not Significantly Cut COVID Hospitalization In Older Vaccinated Adults, Study Finds
The antiviral pill Paxlovid does not significantly reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations in vaccinated older adults, according to new research by UCLA doctors. The findings were published Thursday in a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The takeaway is not that Paxlovid doesn’t work — but rather that its effectiveness is lower in vaccinated older adults than was previously reported in unvaccinated adults, said the study’s lead author Dr. John Mafi, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. (Ho, 2/20)

The Washington Post: Women Have A Higher Risk For Long Covid. Estrogen May Play A Role
Women have a higher risk of developing long covid than men, depending on their stage of life and whether they have experienced menopause, according to a new nationwide study from RECOVER, the long covid research initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health. The research, published in January, studied over 12,000 adults and found that overall, female participants had a 31 percent higher risk of developing long covid after an infection with the coronavirus than male counterparts. (Morris, 2/20)

On bird flu —

The New York Times: Dairy Workers May Have Passed Bird Flu To Pet Cats, CDC Study Suggests 
Two dairy workers in Michigan may have transmitted bird flu to their pet cats last May, suggests a new study published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In one household, infected cats may also have passed the virus to other people in the home, but limited evidence makes it difficult to ascertain the possibility. (Anthes and Mandavilli, 2/20)

NBC News: Why Isn't The U.S. Using A Bird Flu Vaccine In Poultry?
The United States has so far avoided vaccination as a strategy to eradicating bird flu in poultry, instead relying on culling infected flocks. With the escalating outbreak driving up egg prices to record highs, could that approach soon change? ... The Agriculture Department on Friday gave its strongest sign yet that the federal government could be shifting its strategy. The agency said it granted a conditional license for an H5N2 bird flu vaccine designed to work against variants of the H5N1 virus, the strain circulating among herds of dairy cows and domestic poultry in the U.S. (Lovelace Jr., 2/20)

On measles, flu, and cholera —

NPR: As Measles Cases Rise In The U.S., Some Adults May Need A Vaccine Booster
A measles outbreak in West Texas is continuing to spread. And with kindergarten vaccination rates dipping across the country, more communities may be at risk of outbreaks. But it's not just kids who should be vaccinated. Infectious disease experts say some adults may need to get revaccinated, too. Measles can spread incredibly fast — it's one of the world's most contagious diseases, more than flu, polio, Covid, or just about any other infectious disease. (Godoy, 2/21)

CIDRAP: Analysis: Global Season Flu Vaccine Production Stable Since 2019
The World Health Organization (WHO) monitors the global supply of seasonal influenza vaccines, and a new analysis shows the 2023 supply matches numbers from 2019, suggesting flu vaccine production was sustained through the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was published this week in Vaccine, and the authors said monitoring seasonal flu vaccine capacity is important for estimating potential pandemic flu vaccine capacities in different global regions. (Soucheray, 2/20)

CIDRAP: WHO: Global Cholera Cases Declined 27% In January
The number of new cholera cases is down worldwide to start the year, despite a new outbreak in Angola, according to the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO). As of January 26, a total of 34,799 new cholera cases were reported in 19 countries across three WHO regions, marking a 27% decrease from December 2024. (Dall, 2/20)

The New York Times: Trillions Of Viruses Live In Your Body. A.I. Is Trying To Find Them.
Healthy people are rife with viruses that don’t make us ill. Scientists estimate that tens of trillions of viruses live inside of us, though they’ve identified just a fraction of them. A vast majority are benign, and some may even be beneficial. We don’t know for sure, because most of the so-called human virome remains a mystery. (Zimmer, 2/19)

The New York Times: Louis Pasteur’s Relentless Hunt For Germs Floating In The Air 
In 19th-century France, the young chemist challenged the theory of spontaneous generation and discovered an invisible world of airborne microbes. (Zimmer, 2/18)

Stat: Anti-Vaxxer Politics See A Surge Among European Populist Parties, Too
What’s happened in Austria offers another window into how and why some far-right parties have continued to fan pandemic-era grievances over measures such as vaccine policies and enforced restrictions. While anti-vaccine sentiment has long existed, experts say the decision by leading political parties to take up that mantle and challenge public health measures marks a new and distressing turn. (Joseph, 2/21)

Undark: The Uncertain Resiliency Of Public Trust In Science
Confidence in scientific institutions mostly survived the first Trump administration. What will happen to it now? (Lopez Lloreda, 2/17)

AP: US Aid Freeze Puts HIV-Positive Orphans In Kenya At Risk 
Two-year-old Evans was brought to the Nyumbani Children’s Home in Nairobi, Kenya a year ago, suffering from HIV and tuberculosis. With no family to care for him, Evans was referred to the orphanage by a health center after he stopped responding to medical treatment. Nyumbani Children’s Home is the reason Evans is still alive. But political decisions made thousands of miles away might spell the end of his short life. (Komu, 2/21)

AP: Researchers Link A Gene To The Emergence Of Spoken Language
Why did humans start speaking? Scientists suggest genetics played a big role – and they say the evolution of this singular ability was key to our survival. (Ungar, 2/18)

The Washington Post: Measles Outbreak Is Coming For RFK Jr.
Given how much Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done to scare Americans away from vaccines, it seems inevitable that a runaway measles epidemic will ensue. Dozens of cases in rural West Texas might already be the start of one. As Kennedy takes office as secretary of health and human services, the world’s most transmissible virus is challenging him to an arm-wrestling match, and it’s one that the iron-pumping health advocate cannot win. (Donald G. McNeil Jr., 2/20)

The New York Times: We're Running Out Of Chances To Stop Bird Flu
Unfortunately, bird flu is no longer confined to birds. For several years, the virus has been jumping from wild birds into wild mammals, and last March it was identified in cows for the first time. Scientists are sounding the alarm: Bird flu’s jump into an animal with which humans have such close contact is a serious warning sign. If this outbreak isn’t controlled, the virus could mutate and plunge humans into a new public health emergency. (Maryn McKenna, 2/20)

The Boston Globe: COVID-19 Should Have Taught Us That Undermining Global Health Is A Risky Proposition 
If there is one lesson we should have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that promoting public health around the world also strengthens health at home. (Widney Brown, 2/21)

The New York Times: ‘We’re Just Keeping Everybody Alive’: The Damage Done By The U.S.A.I.D. Freeze
When President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to establish the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1961, he rooted its mission in America’s strategic interests and its “moral obligations as a wise leader and good neighbor,” recognizing that poverty and instability threaten America’s prosperity and security. That convergence of interests and values, upheld across Republican and Democratic administrations, is now at risk. (Jeremy Konyndyk, 2/21)

Bloomberg: You Might Have Plastic In Your Brain But Not A Spoon's Worth
When a CBS News medical correspondent claimed this week that we’re accumulating a plastic spoon’s worth of plastic in our brains, her colleagues looked horrified, and for good reason. Surely, that much plastic would gunk up our cognitive machinery. You probably don’t have quite that much of the stuff in your brain, but the idea of any plastic piling up there is still unnerving. (F.D. Flam, 2/20)