Latest Morning Briefing Stories

Inside the FDA’s Vaccine Uproar

KFF Health News Original

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.

Las armas promovidas para la seguridad personal provocan una crisis de salud pública en comunidades negras

KFF Health News Original

Las verificaciones de antecedentes para comprar armas aumentaron 60% de 2019 a 2020, año en que el gobierno federal declaró la emergencia sanitaria por covid.
Ese mismo año, más de 45.000 personas murieron por violencia con armas de fuego.

Qué significa la decisión sobre la vacuna contra la hepatitis B para la gente

KFF Health News Original

Un comité de los Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades votó para poner fin a la recomendación universal de aplicar la vacuna contra la hepatitis B a los recién nacidos.

Vaccine Panel’s Hepatitis B Vote Signals Further Turbulence for Immunization Policy, Public Trust

KFF Health News Original

Clinicians and epidemiologists warn the decision to no longer recommend the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine could unravel decades of progress and expose newborns to a deadly, preventable disease.

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

Podcast

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

KFF Health News Original

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

KFF Health News Original

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

KFF Health News Original

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

KFF Health News Original

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.

KFF Health News Original

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.

KFF Health News Original

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.

Gobierno prometió “transparencia radical”, pero oculta solicitudes de fondos para la salud rural

KFF Health News Original

Drones que entregan medicamentos y telesalud en bibliotecas locales son algunas de las ideas que líderes estatales acaban de presentar para gastar su parte de un programa federal de salud rural de $50.000 millones.

New Work Requirement Adds Red Tape to Missouri’s Snarled Food Aid System

KFF Health News Original

Under Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states must shoulder more of the administrative and cost burdens of the food aid program SNAP, which helps feed 42 million Americans.

Kennedy Sharpens Vaccine Attacks, Without Scientific Backing

KFF Health News Original

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.

Una crisis de salud oculta tras los desastres naturales: la proliferación de moho en los hogares

KFF Health News Original

Se estima que el 47% de los edificios residenciales de Estados Unidos tiene humedad o moho. Así que, aunque la última temporada de huracanes esté por terminar, siguen presentes los problemas de salud asociados al moho.