 | | | | |  | By Megan R. Wilson | Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here to get it in your inbox. In today’s issue: - RFK Jr.’s flu vaccine doubts are spilling over into public policy, alarming public health experts
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had its second high-ranking departure from the agency this month
- Merck splits oncology business as Keytruda patent cliff looms
… And more. Good afternoon, and welcome to the Health Brief newsletter. Washington was promised inches of snow in what turned out to be a bust. Overreacting about the weather? Oh, D.C. is so back. Do you have any story tips or health policy intel? Shoot me a note at megan.wilson@washpost.com. If you prefer to message me securely, I’m also on Signal at megan. 434. This newsletter is published by WP Intelligence, The Washington Post’s subscription service for professionals that provides business, policy and thought leaders with actionable insights. WP Intelligence operates independently from The Washington Post newsroom. Learn more about WP Intelligence. |  | | The day after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in, he moved to shut down federal ad campaigns encouraging flu vaccines. (Nathan Howard/Reuters) | | | |  | The Lead Brief | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has disparaged the flu shot or linked it to his voice condition at least two dozen times over the last six years — and as recently as last month. Now, as health secretary, he’s turning that skepticism into policy. → My Washington Post colleagues Lauren Weber, Lena H. Sun and Caitlin Gilbert dug into Kennedy’s claims in a new report pulling back the curtain on the administration's actions on the flu vaccine following one of the worst flu seasons in more than 15 years. They write about how Kennedy has repeatedly suggested the flu vaccine may have triggered his spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological voice disorder that affects his speech, while also admitting he can’t prove it. My colleagues consulted with medical voice experts — and multiple inserts for flu vaccines — who said there’s no scientific evidence to back up the claims about the type of dystonia he has. There is evidence to suggest a potential association between dystonias and certain drug use, three otolaryngologists told The Post. Kennedy has also publicly discussed his past addiction to heroin. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about Kennedy linking his vocal problems to vaccines. What’s changed in the federal approach to flu vaccines: - Downgraded childhood vaccines: Last month, the federal government reversed course and revised vaccination guidelines to no longer recommend routine flu shots for children and adolescents.
Getting a flu shot has been shown in multiple studies to reduce hospitalization and death, something Kennedy and his department have disagreed upon. → Flu vaccines typically reduce the risk of cases requiring medical care by roughly 30 percent to 60 percent in most years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Effectiveness fluctuates based on how well the vaccine matches the circulating viruses. The vast majority of flu deaths occur in children who are unvaccinated. - Nixed an ad campaign about vaccination: The day after being sworn in as health secretary last February, Kennedy moved to order the CDC to shut down federal advertising campaigns that encouraged people to get flu shots to decrease the severity of the illness.
“The message we got was that the government was getting out of the business of encouraging vaccination, and that has proven true,” Kevin Griffis, CDC’s then-director of communications, told my colleagues at The Post. - Reframed messaging: HHS said it wanted another campaign centered around informed consent, which often emphasizes the risks of immunization over its benefits. However, no alternative campaign was ever created.
“CDC data also show flu vaccine effectiveness has averaged about 40 percent since 2009, underscoring the need for honest communication, not slogans,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told The Post in response to questions about the messaging. Why it matters: Pediatric deaths during this flu season, which typically runs from October until May, have increased about 4 percent over the same period last year, to 71 children. The 2024-25 flu season was the worst in more than a decade, resulting in the deaths of 289 children. Public health advocates, physicians and families impacted by flu death warned that Kennedy’s actions could lead to more deaths. | | | |  | Agency alert | Lena H. Sun sends this dispatch from The Washington Post newsroom: Ralph Abraham, the No. 2 at the CDC, is abruptly stepping down just seven weeks into the job — the second high-profile exit at the agency this month. The agency made the announcement Monday, saying that he “chose to step down to address unforeseen family obligations.” → As the former Louisiana surgeon general, Abraham both led a move to stop promotion of mass vaccination during last winter’s flu season and criticized covid-19 shots. The announcement posted on CDC’s website praised Abraham for leading the agency “with clarity and discipline.” During his first press briefing as a top CDC official, Abraham said that the likelihood of the U.S. losing its measles elimination status was the “cost of doing business.” “We have these communities that choose to be unvaccinated,” he told reporters. Vaccination was the best way for people to prevent measles, but he added: “That’s their personal freedom.” There have been nearly 1,000 new measles cases reported in the first six weeks of this year, according to CDC data — compared to the nearly 2,300 cases in all of 2025. The administration tapped Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, and an outspoken critic of the CDC, to serve as the CDC’s acting director. He took the role after Jim O’Neill, who had also been serving as deputy secretary of HHS, abruptly left the agency. | | | | | | Market Moves | — Merck is spinning off its cancer treatment pipeline from the rest of its business ahead of the expiration of its patent for Keytruda, once known as the highest-grossing drug in the world. (Keytruda sales — more than $31 billion — represented about half of the company’s overall revenue.) The company is establishing an oncology unit to be run by Merck executive Jannie Oosthuizen. The separate department for the rest of Merck’s portfolio — spun into a specialty, pharma and infectious diseases unit — will be led by Brian Foard, who joins the company from Sanofi. Why it matters: As Merck faces the potential for billions of dollars in losses once Keytruda biosimilars enter the market, splitting off its oncology business from the rest of the company is a signal to investors that Merck is treating the post-Keytruda era as a strategic reset, not a slow fade. Robert Davis, Merck’s CEO, told investors during an earnings call earlier this month that the company’s expectation to have “substantial growth once we get closer to the [Keytruda’s loss of exclusivity] is as high as it’s ever been, and we’re not done.” Merck said it has about 80 late-stage clinical trials in its overall pipeline, and it expects more than 20 to drive revenue growth in the coming years, according to a release. Almost all of them have “blockbuster potential,” the company said — or, in other words, the potential to earn billions of dollars. — Gilead Sciences announced it would be buying cancer treatment company Arcellx in a deal worth up to $7.8 billion. Kite Pharma, a Gilead company, had already been partnering with Arcellx on a one-time blood cancer therapy that’s personalized for patients who’ve relapsed following prior treatments. As part of the announcement of the acquisition, Gilead said the Food and Drug Administration agreed to review a marketing approval request for the product. | | | | | | Industry Rx | The GLP-1 roller coaster continues. Zepbound manufacturer Eli Lilly on Monday announced the Food and Drug Administration approved its drug, and that it would begin offering a multi-dose vial of its GLP-1 weight loss drug. What it means: The multi-dose vial gives patients a one-month supply of the medication rather than having to use different injectable pens. Patients whose insurance doesn’t cover the medication can get their prescriptions filled directly through Eli Lilly for $299 to $449 for the four-dose vial. It isn’t cheaper than single-dose vials — when patients pay cash — but the company hopes it will be more convenient. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk again saw its stock fall more than 16 percent on Monday as it announced that the results of another weight-loss treatment in its pipeline called CagriSema were not superior to Eli Lilly’s offerings. | | | | | | WP Intel File | ICYMI: A WP Intelligence briefing on Friday explored the ways Washington has been trying to tamp down on rising drug costs. You can read more about the discussion — featuring WP Intelligence Lead Health Analyst Rebecca Adams — in our official summary. Guests Merith Basey, the CEO of Patients for Affordable Drugs, and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Executive Vice President of Policy and Research Elizabeth Carpenter talked about the impacts of Medicare price negotiations, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform, rising launch prices and what’s coming next on policy. - What’s next for patient advocacy groups: Consumer advocates are turning to reforming how drugmakers use the patent system to maintain exclusivity over medicines and how consolidated the PBM industry is, with large insurers, pharmacy benefit companies and pharmacies being affiliated together.
- What’s next for drugmakers: The pharmaceutical industry remains focused on urging policymakers to rein in PBMs and also on how hospitals participate in the 340B discount drug program.
→ You can also watch the full 60-minute discussion, moderated by Luiza Savage, editorial director of WP Intelligence, here. | | | | |
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