Latest KFF Health News Stories
Wary of RFK Jr., Colorado Started Revamping Its Vaccine Policies in the Spring
Amid concerns that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is undermining trust in vaccines and public health science, some states are seeking new sources of scientific consensus and changing how they regulate insurance companies, prescribers, and pharmacists. Colorado has been at the front of this wave.
Inside the High-Stakes Battle Over Vaccine Injury Compensation, Autism, and Public Trust
The evidence is unequivocal: Vaccines do not cause autism. Yet adding autism to the list of conditions covered by a federal payout program, as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seems inclined to do, could threaten its financial viability. Such a move also would suggest that the science is unsettled, that vaccines may be riskier than diseases, which is a fallacy.
In Hepatitis B Vaccine Debate, CDC Panel Sidesteps Key Exposure Risk
At a recent meeting of a key vaccine advisory panel, members debated changes to the timing of hepatitis B vaccination, while largely ignoring the risk of early childhood transmission from day care or household contact. A few days later, President Donald Trump did the same.
‘Historic’ White House Announcement on Autism and Tylenol Causes Confusion
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Off-Label Drug Helps One Boy With Autism Speak, Parents Say. But Experts Want More Data.
This week, the FDA began the process of approving leucovorin, an inexpensive, generic drug derived from folic acid, to help children diagnosed with autism.
In a rambling news conference that shocked public health experts, President Donald Trump — without scientific evidence — blamed the over-the-counter drug acetaminophen, and too many childhood vaccines, for the increase in autism diagnoses in the U.S. That came days after a key immunization advisory panel, newly reconstituted with vaccine doubters, changed several long-standing recommendations. Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official Demetre Daskalakis joins KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories. Meanwhile, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join Rovner with the rest of the news, including a threat by the Trump administration to fire rather than furlough federal workers if Congress fails to fund the government beyond the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.
‘Sick to My Stomach’: Trump Distorts Facts on Autism, Tylenol, and Vaccines, Scientists Say
The White House’s autism announcement exaggerates links to Tylenol, misleads on vaccines, and sets back the field by ignoring decades of research, scientists say.
Expertos en autismo de los Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades no fueron consultados para el esperado anuncio de la Casa Blanca.
Journalists Follow the Fallout of CDC Director’s Firing and Trump’s Health Policies
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Disability Bias Complaints Peak as the Office That Investigates Them Is Gutted
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
Kennedy’s Take on Vaccine Science Fractures Cohesive National Public Health Strategies
A lack of faith in the soundness of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new direction has led states to explore enacting their own vaccine policies. A patchwork of divergent recommendations and requirements could result.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Ousted CDC Officials Clap Back at RFK Jr.
Fired less than a month after being confirmed as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez appeared at a dramatic Senate hearing this week alongside another ousted CDC official and directly contradicted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s earlier testimony about why she was fired. Monarez told the Health, […]
Watch: Fired CDC Chief Says RFK Jr. Demanded She Roll Back Vaccine Policies Without Evidence
Susan Monarez and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief medical officer Debra Houry described turmoil in an agency dominated by anti-vaccine political officials nominated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Montana Advocates Worry About Federal Impacts on Support for Students With Disabilities
Montana has a waitlist for people with disabilities who need vocational training, even as schools and disability advocates are concerned about how federal cuts will affect those programs.
RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Panel Expected To Recommend Delaying Hepatitis B Shot for Children
A federal vaccine panel, recently reshaped by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is expected to vote on delaying the hepatitis B shot for newborns. Pediatricians warn that could open the door to a comeback for a disease virtually eradicated among U.S. children.
Parents Fear Losing Disability Protections as Trump Slashes Civil Rights Office
The Education Department’s civil rights office often intervenes when students face discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or disability and their families can’t resolve complaints locally. Parents fear the effort to gut the federal agency will leave them with nowhere to seek justice.
Journalists Talk New ‘MAHA’ Strategy, RFK Jr.’s Tack at HHS, and Plight of Rural Hospitals
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Were Aimed at ‘Able-Bodied Adults.’ Hospitals Say Kids Will Be Hurt.
The GOP said its overhaul of Medicaid was aimed at reducing fraud and getting more adult beneficiaries to work. Among the likely side effects: fewer services and doctors for treating sick children.
Lice Pose No Health Threat, Yet Some Parents Push Back on Rules To Allow Affected Kids in Class
Public health officials see lice as a nuisance, not a health threat, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended for years that students with live lice be allowed to remain in class. But as “no-nit” policies have been dropped in favor of “nonexclusion” rules, some school districts have seen parents and teachers push back.
Algunos hospitales infantiles podrían perder miles de millones de dólares en ingresos una vez que se aplique por completo la amplia ley fiscal y de gasto de Trump, conocida por los republicanos como la One Big Beautiful Bill.
