Guns Marketed for Personal Safety Fuel Public Health Crisis in Black Communities

During the covid pandemic, gun marketers told many Americans they needed firearms to defend against criminals and protesters. Then firearm deaths mounted rapidly in racially segregated and low-income neighborhoods, according to federal data.

Inside the FDA’s Vaccine Uproar

An internal email claiming covid vaccines killed children triggered a formal response from a dozen past FDA commissioners. The email, sent by the head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, outlines a framework that could have significant impact on the nation’s vaccine policies.

What the Health? From KFF Health News: Crunch Time for ACA Tax Credits

Dec. 15 is the deadline to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans that begin Jan. 1, and Congress remains at odds over letting expanded tax credits for the plans’ premiums expire and increasing the cost of insurance for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to remake vaccine policy to reflect ideology rather than science. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Georgetown professor Linda Blumberg about the GOP’s health plans.

This HIV Expert Refused To Censor Data, Then Quit the CDC

HIV physician John Weiser talks about why complying with President Donald Trump’s orders to erase transgender people is bad for science and society. And he notes that acquiescing didn’t spare the CDC from further harm.

In RFK Jr.’s Upside-Down World of Vaccines, Panel Votes To End Hepatitis B Shot at Birth

A session of a vaccine panel dominated by skeptics was chaotically at odds with past practices of the CDC, which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described as a “cesspool of corruption.” His crew voted to end a 34-year recommendation to vaccinate newborns against hepatitis B.

While Scientists Race To Study Spread of Measles in US, Kennedy Unravels Hard-Won Gains

Scientists are conducting genetic analyses to see if the measles outbreak that started in Texas is still spreading from state to state. It’s a contentious question, because the findings may determine whether America loses its measles-free status.

Under Kennedy, America’s Health Department Is in the Business of Promoting Kennedy

Under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services increasingly uses its social media channels to promote Kennedy himself and his agenda. Interviews with over 20 former and current employees provide a look inside an agency where personality and politics steer communications with the public.

Republicans Left Tribes Out of Their $50B Rural Fund. Now It’s Up to States To Share.

The Trump administration has championed its Rural Health Transformation Program as an investment in American families who have been left behind. But Native American tribes, whose communities have a significant presence in rural America and have some of the greatest health needs, are ineligible to apply directly for funding.

RFK Jr. Wants To Delay the Hepatitis B Vaccine. Here’s What Parents Need To Know.

A CDC panel is reconsidering the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Renewed doubt could lead to fewer kids getting vaccinated, leaving them vulnerable to an incurable, preventable virus that can be acquired by indirect contact with infected blood.

Kennedy Sharpens Vaccine Attacks, Without Scientific Backing

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims that the aluminum ingredients in vaccines cause a variety of harmful reactions, from allergies to autism. Scientists say that’s wrong and warn of risks if they’re removed. Here are some of the basics.