Stat: NIH Director: Lack Of Public Trust Led To Cancellation Of MRNA Vaccine Contracts
The head of the National Institutes of Health has offered a new explanation for why the federal government canceled $500 million in contracts to help develop messenger RNA vaccines, saying the platform is not viable because the public doesn’t trust it. (Branswell, 8/11)

The New York Times: Why Young Children May Not Get Covid Shots This Fall 
This fall, it may not be possible for many parents to have a healthy child under age 5 immunized against Covid. Pfizer’s vaccine has long been available to these children under so-called emergency use authorization. But the Food and Drug Administration is considering discontinuing the authorization for that age group, according to an email sent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to state and local health departments. Pfizer confirmed the possibility on Monday evening and said that the company was “currently in discussions with the agency on potential paths forward.” For children 5 to 11 years old, the Pfizer vaccine is expected to be approved and available, according to the C.D.C.’s email, which was reviewed by The New York Times. (Mandavilli, 8/11)

The New York Times: Kennedy’s Next Target: The Federal Vaccine Court 
For nearly 40 years, a special federal court system has compensated Americans who prove they were harmed by vaccines while also protecting the manufacturers from litigation. Even the staunchest defenders of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program agree it needs reform. It is slow, understaffed and can feel adversarial to families legitimately in need. Now Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to overhaul the program, saying he will make it more efficient and speedier for Americans seeking payment. (Jewett and Mandavilli, 8/11)

MedPage Today: Aluminum In Vaccines Study Won't Be Retracted, Journal Says
The Annals of Internal Medicine rejected a call from some readers and from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to retract a large vaccine safety study published last month. The paper showed that cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccination during the first 2 years of life did not raise the risk of chronic neurodevelopmental, autoimmune, atopic, or allergic disorders, according to Niklas Worm Andersson, MD, PhD, of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, and co-authors. (George, 8/11)

In related covid research—

CIDRAP: A Recent Common Cold May Nearly Halve Risk Of COVID-19, Study Suggests
The common cold may help protect against COVID-19, which may partially explain why children, who are especially vulnerable to most viral respiratory infections, generally have milder SARS-CoV-2 infections than adults, National Jewish Health–led researchers write today in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. (Van Beusekom, 8/11)

CIDRAP: Study: Kidney-Transplant Recipients Benefit From COVID-19 Vaccination
A recent study in Clinical Microbiology and Infection shows that patients undergoing long-term kidney replacement therapy (KRT) had significant reductions in morbidity and mortality after three doses of COVID-19 vaccine. The study was based on all patients on KRT from the Finnish Registry for Kidney Diseases. Each patient was matched with 10 controls, and hazard ratios of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 were calculated according to vaccination status to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE). (Soucheray, 8/11)

More on MAHA —

Politico: Kennedy's MAHA Strategy Will Not Be Released To The Public Immediately
Farmers, food manufacturers, chemical companies, anti-vaccine activists and MAHA moms — all waiting anxiously for the release of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s strategy for “making children healthy again” — will have to wait a bit longer. The White House said Monday that it expected the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which President Donald Trump created in February to revamp the nation’s food supply and chronic health outcomes, to send the strategy to the president Tuesday, as required by an executive order. (Lim, Brown and Messerly, 8/11)

CNN: New ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Report To Be Released In Weeks 
Americans will have to wait several weeks for the Trump administration’s next steps in its agenda to “Make America Healthy Again,” according to three people familiar with the matter. While President Donald Trump’s MAHA Commission will submit its strategy to the White House on Tuesday — sticking to an executive-ordered deadline — scheduling issues stand in the way of its public release. (Owermohle and Cancryn, 8/11)

Bloomberg: RFK Jr. Visits CDC After Deadly Atlanta Shooting
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday following the deadly attack on the Atlanta-based agency on Aug. 8. CDC Director Susan Monarez and HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill joined Kennedy, with security officials pointing out shattered windows across multiple buildings and the main guard booth, according to a statement. Kennedy also visited the DeKalb County Police Department and later met with the widow of David Rose, the police officer who was killed in the shooting, the agency said. (Nix and Cohrs Zhang, 8/11)

Fierce Healthcare: Critics Demand Rhetoric Change From RFK After CDC Shooting
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employees and other prominent public health figures are calling for leadership to take a stronger stance on vaccine misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric following Friday afternoon’s shooting at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, 33, was killed responding to the attack and another police officer was injured, according to law enforcement officials and a statement from the agency. (Muoio, 8/11)

Politico: ‘Ridiculously Traumatized’: CDC Workers Fear Returning To Work After Fatal Shooting
Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now fear going to work after a gunman sprayed bullets at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters Friday evening, three agency staffers said. “Even the ones who weren’t in lockdown for seven hours and are ridiculously traumatized … even everybody else, I’m getting questions about ‘Are our windows bulletproof? And what about the areas without cell reception?’,” one of the staffers said. They were granted anonymity for fear of retribution. (Gardner, 8/11)

AP: Man Fired 180 Shots, Breaking 150 Windows, At CDC Headquarters In Atlanta 
The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing “blast-resistant” windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency. It may take weeks or even months to replace windows and clean up the damage, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel said. Building 21, which houses CDC Director Susan Monarez’s office, was hit by the largest number of bullets. CDC officials did not say if her office was hit. CDC employees were advised to work from home this week. (Stobbe, 8/11)

More on gun violence and mental health —

The New York Times: Gunman Kills 3, Including a Child, at a Target Store in Austin
A gunman killed three people who were outside a Target store in Austin, Texas, on Monday afternoon and then stole a succession of cars before he was apprehended, local police officials said. Two of the victims, one adult and one child, were pronounced dead at the scene, shortly after emergency responders arrived around 2:20 p.m. Central time. A third person, an adult, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. A fourth person had minor medical complaints, not caused by traumatic injuries, according to emergency responders. Police said the gunman, a 32-year-old man whose name has not been released, had a history of mental health problems and has previously been placed on emergency holds, according to Lisa Davis, chief of the Austin Police Department. Such holds typically occur when individuals face a mental health crisis and pose a risk to themselves or others. (Salhotra and Montgomery, 8/11)

OPB: NYC Shooter Had Two ‘Mental Health Holds’ In Las Vegas. They Didn’t Affect His Legal Right To Own Guns 
Records released last week by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police confirm they had several contacts in recent years with Shane Tamura, the 27-year-old man who drove to New York and killed four people on July 28. The records show he was known to suffer from mental illness, had been the subject of two emergency psychiatric evaluations, and yet was still allowed to buy firearms legally — including the AR-15-style rifle used in New York. The information includes 911 calls from Tamura’s mother, who reported that her son was suicidal, and that he’d been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. She also told dispatchers her son had owned a gun in the past, and might still have one. (Kaste, 8/8)

NPR: Why The Company That Makes Plumpy'Nut Is 'Just Over The Moon!'
Navyn Salem cried when she got a call last week — but they were happy tears. They were sparked by a message from the U.S. State Department: After months of confusion from stop-work orders, contract terminations and foreign aid cuts, the federal government is ready to restart ordering therapeutic food designed to bring malnourished children back from the brink. "Someone brought me my phone and said, 'Look at what message just came in,'" she recalled in an interview with NPR. "It was our first order [from the U.S. government] for 2025." (Emanuel, 8/11)

On research funding —

The New York Times: Harvard Nears A Deal With The Trump Administration To Restore Funding 
Harvard University and the Trump administration are nearing a potentially landmark legal settlement that would see Harvard agree to spend $500 million in exchange for the restoration of billions of dollars in federal research funding, according to four people familiar with the deliberations. The talks could still collapse, as President Trump and senior Harvard officials need to sign off on the terms of the deal. The sides are still going back and forth over important wording for a potential agreement. (Blinder, Schmidt and Bender, 8/11)

The Washington Post: Inside Science Labs Trying To Survive In The Trump Era
Anastasia Khvorova’s lab at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School shows how quickly the administration is dismantling an 80-year partnership that made the U.S. a scientific superpower. (Johnson, 8/11)

On Veterans Affairs, Medicaid and ACA —

The Guardian: US Veterans Agency Lost Thousands Of ‘Core’ Medical Staff Under Trump, Records Show
The Department of Veterans Affairs has lost thousands of healthcare professionals deemed “core” to the system’s ability to function and “without which mission-critical work cannot be completed," agency records show. But the VA said in a statement to the Guardian that “anyone who says VA is cutting health care and benefits is not being honest.” (Glantz, 8/11)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Tries To Soften Impact Of Medicaid Cuts In "Big Beautiful Bill"
Colorado is hoping a just-under-the-wire application to the federal government will help soften the blow of Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the recently signed tax and spending measure. The application is to create what is known as a state directed payments program. Such programs pull down extra federal Medicaid funding that can then be paid to health care providers with the goal of expanding access to care and improving the quality of the care. (Ingold, 8/12)

California Healthline: Considering A Life Change? Brace For Higher ACA Costs
People thinking about starting a business or retiring early — before they’re old enough for Medicare — may want to wait until November, when they can see just how much their Affordable Care Act health insurance will cost next year. Sharp increases are expected. Premiums for ACA health plans, also known as Obamacare, which many early retirees and small-business owners rely on for coverage, are going up, partly due to policy changes advanced by the Trump administration and Congress. At the same time, more generous tax subsidies that have helped most policyholders pay for coverage are set to expire at the end of December. (Appleby, 8/12)

In other Trump administration news —

The Hill: Trump Considers Reclassifying Marijuana As Less Dangerous
President Trump said Monday his administration is “looking at” reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Such a move would continue efforts begun by the Biden administration, which started the process to make marijuana a Schedule III drug in 2024 but did not finish it before former President Biden left office. (Weixel, 8/11)

Bloomberg: Firm Tied To Trump Jr. Debuts Direct Sales Product For Pharma
A company that has Donald Trump Jr. on its board debuted a new service to help pharmaceutical companies launch direct sales platforms, one week after President Donald Trump demanded that drugmakers create similar systems. The company, BlinkRx, is pitching the offering as a way to set up a system for drugmakers to sell products directly to patients in “as little as 21 days.” (Cohrs Zhang, 8/11)

The New York Times: Trump, Seeking Friendlier Economic Data, Names New Statistics Chief
President Trump announced on Monday that he would nominate E.J. Antoni, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mr. Trump fired the previous commissioner of the agency after it reported weak job growth. ...The bureau is seen as the gold standard for information on prices, employment, productivity and more — an essential underpinning for policymaking and financial markets. (Romm, Casselman and DePillis, 8/11)

Axios: Why More Doctors Can't Make Ends Meet
America's doctors are working harder and getting paid less. And that could soon translate into less access for some patients. A new report from consultancy Kaufman Hall shows primary care physicians and specialists are delivering more services since the pandemic. But they're not making more money because of stagnant reimbursements from public and private insurers and inflation. (Reed, 8/12)

The Colorado Sun: Trainee Doctors At The University Of Colorado Allege Retaliation
The organization that represents doctors-in-training at the University of Colorado has filed a complaint with state labor officials alleging that the school retaliated against it over its quest for collective bargaining rights. (Ingold, 8/11)

Minnesota Public Radio: Minnesota Commissioners Will Vote On Hospital Oversight Takeover
The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners will vote Tuesday on a resolution to take over management of Hennepin County Medical Center, as the county hospital faces a budget shortfall. According to county and hospital officials, the county’s safety-net hospital system — including HCMC in Minneapolis — has seen an operating loss for seven of the past eight years. Hospital and county officials have said the hospital risks closure this year, or could face steep cuts to staff and programs. (Timar-Wilcox, 8/12)

California Healthline: Experts Say Rural Emergency Rooms Are Increasingly Run Without Doctors
There was no doctor on-site when a patient arrived in early June at the emergency room in the small hospital at the intersection of two dirt roads in this town of 400 residents. There never is. Dahl Memorial’s three-bed emergency department — a two-hour drive from the closest hospital with more advanced services — instead depends on physician assistants and nurse practitioners. (Zionts, 8/12)

Modern Healthcare: Nearly 6,500 Providers Reject Blue Cross Antitrust Deal
Mayo Clinic, LifePoint Health and Trinity Health are among nearly 6,500 providers opting out of a major settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers. In December, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved a $2.8 billion agreement with providers that sued the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in 2013 over allegations it and its member companies engaged in anticompetitive conduct. (Tepper, 8/11)

Modern Healthcare: HRSA 340B Rebate Pilot Program Sparks Concerns With Providers
Healthcare providers could be in for significant cash flow and operational changes under the nation’s second-largest drug payment program next year. The Health Resources and Services Administration announced a voluntary pilot program last month to test allowing drugmakers to dispense rebates to safety-net providers that participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program rather than discounting prices. Under 340B, qualifying providers pay 25%-50% less for prescription medications. (Early, 8/11)

St. Pete Catalyst: Veteran Oversees Hyperbaric Oxygen Study For Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injuries
University of South Florida associate professor Joseph Dituri survived a traumatic brain injury in 2021 – which gave him a passion to seek a cure for the condition. He is currently overseeing a hyperbaric oxygen therapy study at USF for military veterans who have suffered TBIs. (Connor, 8/12)

In Medicare news —

The Hill: HHS Pilot Program Raises Concerns Over Medicare Red Tape
House Democrats are sounding the alarm and demanding more information about a new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) demonstration they say will increase red tape by adding prior authorization requirements in Medicare. Led by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.), a group of 17 Democrats questioned why HHS would want to test adding prior authorization requirements in traditional Medicare when the Trump administration is touting efforts to reduce the practice in Medicare Advantage (MA). (Weixel, 8/11)

Modern Healthcare: Enhabit, Addus HomeCare Rethink Expansions Amid Medicare Pay Cut
Home healthcare deals are stuck in neutral as providers wait for the government to decide if it will move on a looming $1 billion Medicare rate cut next year. Some home healthcare executives told analysts during second-quarter earnings calls last week they are delaying acquisitions until they know whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will go forward with a proposed 6.4% rate cut. While the massive cut could force financially strapped providers out of business, some are waiting to see if those closures could create buying opportunities down the road for those still looking to grow their home healthcare operations. (Eastabrook, 8/11)

Stat: Telehealth Has Changed The Abortion Landscape, Study Says 
Population-based rates of telemedicine abortion were highest in Southern and Midwestern states, particularly those with abortion bans, during a 15-month period starting in July 2023. That’s when several telehealth abortion providers, including Aid Access, began prescribing medication abortion under state shield laws intended to protect abortion care providers who treat patients in areas with bans. In those 15 months, 84% of Aid Access’ prescriptions went to patients in states with near-total abortion bans or bans specifically on telemedicine abortion. Notably, rates of abortion provision were higher in areas where people had to travel farther to the nearest clinic, and in counties with higher poverty levels. (Palmer, 8/11)

More abortion news —

Indy Star: Abortion Providers Lose Appeal Over Abortion Ban Challenge
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the state's near-total abortion ban on Aug. 11, ruling that the 2022 law did not violate the "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" clause of the Indiana Constitution. The decision is the latest blow to efforts by reproductive rights advocates seeking to expand abortion access after the Indiana General Assembly banned it except in the case of rape or incest, lethal fetal anomalies or risk to the health and life of the pregnant person. Under the first exception, abortions must be obtained within 10 weeks after fertilization while physicians can perform abortions for lethal fetal anomalies up to 20 weeks post-fertilization. (Meador, 8/11)

Courthouse News Service: Satanic Temple Blocked From Suing Over Idaho Abortion Ban 
Satan may be the "ruler of this world," according to John 12:31, but his followers still can't sue to overturn Idaho's abortion ban, after a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Monday that the Satanic Temple lacks standing to challenge the law. The temple runs a telehealth abortion clinic in New Mexico known as "Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic," which provides abortion pills, like mifepristone, over the mail. (Aron, 8/11)

Mother Jones: Texas Bill Would Allow Lawsuits Over Shipping Abortion Pills 
Texas lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would allow lawsuits to target anyone who manufactures, mails, delivers, prescribes, or distributes abortion pills. The bill would also permit people to file a wrongful death lawsuit if the medication results in harm or the death of a fetus or the mother, within a statute of limitations up to six years. (Samu, 8/11)

NBC News: Texas Woman Sues Marine, Claiming He Spiked Her Drink With Abortion Pills
A Texas woman is suing a U.S. Marine, alleging he spiked her drink with nearly a dozen abortion pills, killing their unborn child, after she rebuffed his repeated requests to “get rid of it,” according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court Monday. Liana Davis alleges Christopher Cooprider secretly dissolved at least 10 abortion pills into a cup of hot chocolate that he prepared for her April 5 and then left the house and stopped responding as she profusely bled, the suit says. (Chan, 8/11)

AP: Many Of Trump's Court Nominees Have Been Active In Anti-Abortion Movement
One called abortion a “barbaric practice.” Another referred to himself as a “zealot” for the anti-abortion movement. Several have played prominent roles in defending their state’s abortion restrictions in court and in cases that have had national impact, including on access to medication abortion. As President Donald Trump pushes the Senate to confirm his federal judicial nominees, a review by The Associated Press shows that roughly half of them have revealed anti-abortion views, been associated with anti-abortion groups or defended abortion restrictions. (Fernando, 8/10)

In other reproductive health news —

KVPR: What's The Deal With Claims That Birth Control Is Dangerous?
According to posts on TikTok, hormonal birth control can cause a nearly unlimited list of ailments: Depression, irreversible infertility, acne, destruction of the gut biome, weight gain, balding, and decreased libido to name a few. At the same time, a growing number of influencers advocate tracking fertility cycles naturally – or with apps – to prevent pregnancy, while avoiding birth control altogether. How did the pill get such a bad reputation and is there anything to worry about? Is cycle tracking a valid alternative? We asked researchers and doctors. (Riddle, 8/11)

MedPage Today: In Utero Treatment For Brain Birth Defect Feasible, Promising
In utero embolization of high-risk vein of Galen malformation (VOGM) was feasible for fetuses, early results from a single-center intervention study showed. Five of the seven attempts at this procedure successfully blocked off these abnormal, direct connections between veins and arteries in the brain that lead to very high venous blood pressure, with three treated fetuses surviving past the neonatal period to meet milestones at 6 months of age, reported Darren Orbach, MD, PhD, of Boston Children's Hospital, and colleagues in JAMA. (Henderson, 8/11)

The Washington Post: Working Mothers Are Leaving The Work Force, Undoing Pandemic Gains 
Working mothers, who helped drive much of the job market’s post-pandemic comeback, are leaving the workforce in large numbers this year. The share of working mothers age 25 to 44 with young children has fallen nearly every month this year, dropping by nearly 3 percentage points between January and June, to the lowest level in more than three years, according to an analysis of federal data by Misty Heggeness, a professor at the University of Kansas and former principal economist at the Census Bureau. (Bhattarai, 8/11)

NBC News: Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Prevents Recurrence In Phase 1 Clinical Trial
In an early trial, a one-size-fits-all vaccine showed promise in preventing hard-to-treat pancreatic cancers from coming back. Pancreatic cancer is of particular concern. The five-year survival rate is about 13%, and up to 80% of pancreatic cancers may come back. ... The vaccine targets one of the most common genetic drivers of cancer: KRAS gene mutations. (Sullivan, 8/11)

Axios: FDA Says IV Fluid Shortage From Hurricane Is Over
The nationwide shortage of critical intravenous saline fluid triggered by Hurricane Helene is over, though some other injectable solutions remain in shortage almost a year after the storm, the Food and Drug Administration said. (Bettelheim, 8/12)

MedPage Today: Popular Diabetes Drugs Linked To Small Risk Of Retinal, Optic Nerve Disorders
The risk of new-onset diabetic retinopathy (DR) increased slightly, but significantly, in patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists for diabetes, despite a lower risk of vision-threatening complications, a large retrospective study suggested. A propensity-matched comparison showed a 7% higher incidence of new DR among users of GLP-1 agonists. The risk of ischemic optic neuropathy did not differ significantly between users and non-users. (Bankhead, 8/11)

Stat: New Guidelines Call For Stricter Oversight Of Some Stem Cell-Based Research 
An influential scientific panel is pumping the brakes on stem cell-based embryo models — an umbrella term for the increasingly complex structures researchers are building from stem cells and growing in the lab to mimic aspects of embryonic development. In new guidelines released Monday, the International Society for Stem Cell Research called for stricter oversight of studies involving such models and the establishment of red lines against using them for certain activities. (Molteni, 8/11)

Also —

ProPublica, Medill Investigative Lab: Which Drugs Has The FDA Allowed Into The U.S. From Banned Foreign Factories?
For more than a dozen years, the Food and Drug Administration quietly allowed substandard foreign factories to continue shipping medications to the United States even after the agency officially banned them from doing so because of dangerous manufacturing failures. ProPublica exposed the little-known practice in June. The FDA said the decisions to exempt certain medications from import bans were made to fend off drug shortages and that guardrails were in place to ensure the products were safe, such as requiring the banned factories to do extra testing on the drugs before they were sent to Americans. (Cenziper, Rose and Dailey, 8/12)

ProPublica: Indian Drugmaker Sun Pharma Made Promises To The FDA That It Didn’t Keep
The dispatches from one of India’s most troubled generic drug makers were contrite, filled with far-reaching promises to clean up its factory, stop contamination and send safe medication to Americans counting on the company’s drugs. “We have started addressing FDA concerns very aggressively and comprehensively,” an executive from Sun Pharma wrote to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2015. (Rose and Cenziper, 8/12)

The Washington Post: Anti-Sunscreen Movement Sparks Concern Among Dermatologists 
A growing anti-sunscreen movement on social media is causing concern among dermatologists, who warn that avoiding sunscreen increases long-term health risks. (Malhi, 8/10)

The Hill: Dollar Store Shopping Doesn't Equal Unhealthy Diets: Study
Relying on dollar stores for the bulk of grocery purchases might not be harming American diets, despite the comparative lack of healthy products, a new study has found. As families look to free up funds on costly shopping lists, they are increasingly turning to their locals dollar stores to buy staple food items, according to the study, published Monday in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (Udasin, 8/11)

Newsweek: Early Warning Sign For Children's ADHD Risk Discovered
A developmental sign in early childhood could help to flag the future likelihood of ADHD—and ensure the right support is given at the right time. Brain wiring at this stage of life could lay the foundation for attention-related skills and hold the key to identifying young children who might go on to develop the neurodevelopmental condition. (Millington, 8/11)

CNN: Fast Walking Is A Key To Longevity, Research Shows 
Too busy to go to the gym? Don’t worry — you can stay healthy by incorporating at least 15 minutes of fast walking into your everyday routine, new research suggests. (Park, 8/11)

Stat: More Men Than Ever Are Getting Plastic Surgery. Here's Why 
Even after Chris Sanford lost 130 pounds, he struggled with body dysmorphia. Every time he looked at the streamlined bodies on his social media feed, he was reminded about the folds of excess skin drooping from his own torso. It made him feel far larger than he really was. (Goldhill, 8/12)

In celebrity news —

AP: Tennis Great Monica Seles Says She Has Myasthenia Gravis. It Is A Chronic Neuromuscular Disease
Monica Seles first noticed the symptoms of myasthenia gravis — a neuromuscular autoimmune disease she discussed during a recent interview with The Associated Press — while she was swinging a racket the way she’d done so many times during, and after, a career that included nine Grand Slam titles and a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. (Fendrich, 8/12)

The Atlantic: No One In The White House Knows How To Stop Ebola 
As of last month, there is no one left in the White House whose sole job is to keep the nation safe from biological threats. The leader of the National Security Council’s biosecurity directorate recently resigned. His staff had been pushed out, and his unit is now defunct. The Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, established by Congress in 2022, has dwindled from a staff of about 20 under President Joe Biden to a staff of zero. (Beth Cameron, Jon Finer, and Stephanie Psaki, 8/11)

Bloomberg: 'Alternative Facts' Aren't A Reason To Skip Vaccines
Trump’s health officials have been endorsing alternative facts in science to impose policies that contradict modern medical knowledge. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 8/11)

The New York Times: A Dangerous Escalation Of The Science Wars
Covid vaccination has become tribal. On social media, one far-right American political activist claimed the Covid vaccines have “killed many, many people” and predicted more deaths to come. Pro-vaccine commenters have mocked and insulted vaccine-skeptical people, reinforcing the perception that the vaccine debate is as much about identity and status as it is about evidence or health. (Céline Gounder, 8/11)

Stat: How To Fix The Crisis In Community Pharmacy 
Earlier this year, the second largest independent pharmacy chain in America, Rite-Aid, filed for bankruptcy. While many were caught off guard, I wasn’t. After 30 years in community pharmacy, I saw this coming. Financial pressure has been building for years. Burnout among pharmacists exploded during the pandemic. Now, access to care is deteriorating before our eyes. (Rick Gates, 8/12)

Stat: Randomized Controlled Trials Should Include Pregnant Women 
“Well, we don’t have as much evidence as we would like on steroid use during pregnancy,” the obstetrician warned my co-author, Natalia Emanuel, as she wrote a prescription for inhaled corticosteroids to help treat a respiratory illness that was causing chronic shortness of breath. “But having difficulty breathing isn’t good for your baby either. It’s really up to you: You decide whether you feel you need the inhaler.” (Alyssa Bilinski, 8/12)

The New York Times: The Male Fertility Crisis Is Environmental 
Mounting evidence suggests that exposure to so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in many products, from food and beverage containers to furniture and agricultural pesticides, may affect male potency from the very beginning of life. (Jessica Grose, 8/12)