Latest KFF Health News Stories
‘Chemtrail’ Theories Warn of Health Dangers From Contrails. The Idea Takes Wing at Kennedy’s HHS.
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It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Chemtrail? New Conspiracy Theory Takes Wing at Kennedy’s HHS
The idea that airplane vapors are toxic to people or that there are ongoing efforts to intentionally change the climate made the social media rounds. Now, it has found advocates at the Department of Health and Human Services.
El presidente Donald Trump, el presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson, y miembros republicanos del Congreso han repetido esto una y otra vez.
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.
GOP Falsely Ties Shutdown to Democrats’ Alleged Drive To Give All Immigrants Health Care
Immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status are generally ineligible for federally funded health care programs. Democrats’ funding proposal would restore access to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplace for legal immigrants who will lose access once certain provisions of the Republicans’ tax and spending law take effect.
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.
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.
Trump Claims ‘No Downside’ to Avoiding Tylenol During Pregnancy. He’s Wrong.
Doctors say acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol, is safe to take during pregnancy. Other over-the-counter pain relievers such as aspirin and ibuprofen aren’t recommended because they can harm fetal development. Untreated fever in pregnancy can pose maternal and fetal health risks.
‘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.
Mercury in Your Hot Dog? Vaccine Skeptics Face Their Limits at Crucial CDC Meeting
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meeting on vaccines pitted scientific expertise against vaccine skepticism. An often confusing debate ended with critics of the current vaccine schedule tabling a vote to remove one of its cornerstones.
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.
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.
RFK Jr. Said ‘Everybody Can Get’ a Covid Vaccine. Is That True?
Although the FDA has approved the vaccines for anyone 65 or older and anyone at least 6 months old who is at risk of a severe covid infection, barriers to coverage and access persist.
Researchers Shift Tactics To Tackle Extremism as Public Health Threat
As extremism and radicalization worsen in the United States, a group of researchers is trying out a new approach that addresses the issue as a public health problem.
Investigadores proponen tratar al extremismo como una amenaza para la salud pública
El año pasado, el Southern Poverty Law Center registró 1.371 grupos extremistas y de odio que están activos en todo el país y que fomentan disturbios.
Public Health Experts See More Trouble at CDC as Kennedy Looks To Exert Control
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Do Pediatricians Recommend Vaccines To Make a Profit? There’s Not Much Money in It
Four pediatricians said evidence-based science and medicine and a desire to keep kids healthy drive doctors’ childhood vaccination recommendations. And while pediatric practices might make money immunizing privately insured children, most practices likely break even or lose money from providing the shots.
At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez is more than an administrative shake-up. It marks a major offensive by Kennedy to seize control of the agency and impose an anti-science agenda, public health leaders say.
Listen: As Kids Head Back to School, Parents Sort Out Confusion Over Vaccine Access
Confusion over federal immunization policy could have major implications for how families with private insurance and Medicaid pay for routine vaccinations. Some doctors are encouraging parents not to wait and get their children shots as soon as they are eligible.
