TITANIC, MEET ICEBERG

The precarious state of U.S. science

Daniel Berman for STAT

A STAT survey of nearly 1,000 federally funded researchers reveals that many academic scientists are reeling after President Trump's return to the White House. Researchers are drastically scaling back the ambition of their work and some labs are shutting down entirely.

The survey found that more than a quarter of respondents have laid off lab members, and more than 2 out of every 5 have cancelled planned research. Two-thirds have counseled students to consider careers outside the ivory tower. Strikingly, despite courts reversing some grant terminations and Congress thwarting plans to slash the NIH budget, just 35% of respondents whose grants were cut or delayed said their government funding had been fully restored by the end of 2025. “This is like the Titanic hitting the iceberg,” said one researcher.

The scope of the impact is startling. Here’s the main story, from Jonathan Wosen, which digs into the details of the survey’s findings and is bolstered by interviews with 30 of those researchers. Jonathan and Anil Oza partnered up for a second story that illuminates the struggles facing three researchers in particular.

COMMUNITY

What we take for granted about vaccines (plus WHO news)

Amid backlash following the Covid-19 pandemic and emboldened by the rise of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., vaccine critics have focused on the importance of individual autonomy and “medical freedom” when it comes to choosing which shots to get, and when. But as STAT’s Helen Branswell writes, the implications for public health affect us all.

Many vaccines deliver indirect health benefits when widely used, both for the people who got them and for society at large. When a vaccine was developed to protect little kids against pneumococcal disease, for example, rates of the disease declined across all age groups, particularly in older adults. Kids vaccinated against chickenpox are much less likely to get shingles later in life. And vaccinating girls against HPV protected boys from some forms of cancer too. Read more from Helen on what benefits get lost in the focus on “me” rather than “we.”

Speaking of vaccines, the World Health Organization has updated its recommendations on Covid vaccines. High risk groups like older adults should get two shots a year, six months apart, officials said, while pretty much all other adults and kids should get routine Covid vaccination once a year. Healthy children aged 6 months to 23 months should not get routine vaccination unless the country experiences a significant illness burden in this cohort, WHO said.

DISABILITY

As Trump targets fraud, disability community frets

The Trump administration wants to end health care fraud. But its efforts may come with a steep cost: cutting critical services for people with disabilities.

In January, federal officials threatened to withhold roughly $2 billion in funding for 14 Medicaid services in Minnesota for the next year. They also placed a moratorium on new durable medical equipment suppliers. Now they’re informing states like Florida that they will be investigated for fraud.

Advocates worry that broadly targeting state Medicaid funding and other health care services will risk people’s lives when more than a quarter of Americans have a disability and the administration’s tax bill last year slashed Medicaid funding by $1 trillion over 10 years.

What are disability advocates saying about this recent push from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services? Read more from me here.