Latest Morning Briefing Stories
What the Health? From KFF Health News: New Flu Vax? FDA Says No Thanks
It’s been a busy week at the FDA, with a political appointee overruling agency scientists to reject an application for a new flu vaccine. Meanwhile, anti-abortion Republicans on Capitol Hill complain the agency is dragging its feet on reviewing the abortion pill mifepristone. Jackie Fortiér of KFF Health News, Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
Louisville Found PFAS in Drinking Water. The Trump Administration Wouldn’t Require Any Action.
After detecting a sudden spike in PFAS in its drinking water, the city traced it upstream along the Ohio River to a factory in West Virginia. But the EPA has relaxed Biden-era plans to regulate PFAS levels. So what happens next?
Trabajadores de salud pública renuncian antes de ir a Guantánamo
Oficiales del Servicio de Salud Pública que trabajaron en Guantánamo el año pasado describieron las condiciones en las que se encontraban los detenidos inmigrantes.
US Cancer Institute Studying Ivermectin’s ‘Ability To Kill Cancer Cells’
At a January event organized by allies of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Cancer Institute Director Anthony Letai said results may be released “in a few months.” Ivermectin, used to deworm horses and other animals, has become a symbol of resistance against the medical establishment among supporters of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda and many conservatives.
This Ballad Hospital, Flooded by Hurricane Helene, Will Be Rebuilt for $44M in a Flood Plain
Ballad Health, the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, plans to rebuild Unicoi County Hospital on land that two climate modeling companies say is at risk of flooding.
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
U.S. Public Health Service doctors and nurses are being deployed to Guantánamo and other detention centers as President Donald Trump escalates mass arrests in his campaign to curb immigration. Some have resigned in protest. Others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
Journalists Describe Drivers of High Health Costs and Spell Out the Science of Protein
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Effective but Underprescribed: HIV Prevention Meds Aren’t Reaching Enough People
PrEP has been available for more than a decade, but billing mistakes, lack of awareness, and lingering stigma keep many people from getting the lifesaving HIV prevention medication.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: HHS Gets Funding, But How Will Trump Spend It?
Congress has passed — and President Trump has signed — the annual spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. But it’s unclear whether the administration will spend the money as Congress directed. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss that story and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Renuka Rayasam about a new reporting project, “Priced Out.”
Poison at Play: Unsafe Levels of Lead Found in Half of New Orleans Playgrounds
Verite News’ reporters tested soil in more than 80 playgrounds for lead contamination. Even in trace amounts, lead exposure in children can result in lower IQs, learning challenges, and behavioral issues.
Listen: Many Tents Are Gone, but Washington’s Homeless — And Their Health Problems — Aren’t
Sweeps of encampments scatter homeless people, as medications are tossed and street medicine providers scramble to reconnect with their patients. KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses the aftermath on the Jan. 28 edition of WAMU’s “Health Hub.”
NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research
The Trump administration has made the future of federal funding for cancer research uncertain. At one groundbreaking breast cancer research lab, work that could save lives has slowed significantly.
Trump’s Covid Views Don’t Track With Reality That Recent Studies Suggest
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
This Teen Never Got His Day in Vaccine Court. His Former Lawyer Now Advises RFK on Its Overhaul.
The federal government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was supposed to help patients with their medical bills while protecting vaccine supply. But allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are routinely transferring cases from that program to launch lawsuits against drugmakers.
Trump Policies at Odds With Emerging Understanding of Covid’s Long-Term Harm
Studies increasingly offer insights into the health risks and burdens faced by people who have had covid infections. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has narrowed covid vaccine recommendations and cut research.
Políticas del gobierno chocan con el conocimiento emergente sobre los daños a largo plazo de covid
Estos hallazgos generan nuevas preocupaciones sobre las políticas relacionadas con covid durante la administración Trump, según investigadores.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: Health Spending Is Moving in Congress
Lawmakers appear on the brink of passing a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services and a bipartisan health policy bill delayed for over a year. But the outlook is bleaker for the health care outline released by President Trump last week. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews oncologist and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel to discuss his new book, “Eat Your Ice Cream.”
As US Is Poised To Lose Measles-Free Status, RFK Jr.’s New CDC Deputy Downplays Its Significance
Measles is at a 30-year high in the U.S., but technicalities may stave off the loss of the nation’s measles elimination status.
Medicaid Tries New Approach With Sickle Cell: Companies Get Paid Only if Costly Gene Therapies Work
The government is using sickle cell treatments to test a new strategy: paying only if the therapies benefit patients. With more expensive treatments on the horizon, the program — created by the Biden administration and continued under President Trump — could help Medicaid save money and treat more patients.
Los pagos de Medicaid por el tratamiento de la anemia falciforme dependerán de su éxito
Actualmente hay dos terapias génicas aprobadas por la FDA, con costos de $2,2 millones por paciente en un caso y $3,1 millones en el otro, sin incluir el gasto de la hospitalización prolongada que requieren.
