vaccines
Bracing for shakeups on the vaccine schedule
Kennedy pushed out Monarez in part because she refused his demand to approve all recommendations made by his handpicked vaccine advisory committee. That has scientists worried major changes are coming, especially to the childhood vaccination schedule.
Elaine Chen interviewed experts about their fears that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices could limit access to commonly used vaccines for RSV, hepatitis B, and Covid-19.
At the first meeting of ACIP’s new members, some expressed skepticism of vaccines. But the panel did not make any recommendations that created major disruptions to the current schedule for children. With Monarez out of the way, that could change. Read more.
government funding
Mixed bag
Chelsea and Isa wrote last week about how Kennedy seems unstoppable. But not everything is going his way. Congress has pushed back against his plan to reorganize NIH, and Kennedy’s Administration for a Healthy America — a centerpiece of his agenda — was left out of the HHS funding bill that House appropriators passed Tuesday, Jonathan Wosen and I report.
That bill has both wins and losses for the Trump administration. It rejects President Trump’s proposal to slash the NIH budget, but proposes deep cuts to the CDC and other health agencies, and advances the administration’s goal of shrinking payments for research overhead. Read more about how the bill is a mixed bag for researchers and how it compares to the Senate’s appropriations bill for HHS.
MAHA
The impact of SNAP cuts on farmers’ markets
Isa has a dispatch from a farmers market in Chambersburg, Pa., where many low-income residents use food stamps and other financial assistance to buy healthy food grown at nearby farms.
To the MAHA crowd, it’s idyllic. Poor diet and nutrition are responsible for the chronic disease crisis, they say, and the type of produce available at the Chambersburg market is the cure.
But cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in President Trump’s tax bill have some marketgoers worried they will no longer be able to afford fresh produce, including some foods they consider medicine. Read more.
