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The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is having a huge impact on cervical cancer prevention among young women, a U.S. government report published Thursday suggests. The CDC report showing rates of precancerous lesions among women aged 20-24 screened for cervical cancer from 2008-2022 fell by about 80% comes days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who once called the HPV vaccine "dangerous and defective," was confirmed as health and human services secretary. (Falconer, 2/27)

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer, with fewer than 13% of people diagnosed with it surviving for more than five years. It kills 88% of its patients, and its recurrence rate, after surgery, is nearly 90% within seven to nine months. U.S. mortality rates, meanwhile, are on the upswing. But promising results from a small clinical trial for an mRNA pancreatic cancer vaccine are fueling new rays of hope. (Greenfield, 2/27)

Pranathi Perati was running out of time to treat her stage-four pancreatic cancer when she found out she would get another shot: a clinical trial testing a new experimental drug. Perati’s odds were slim—3% of late-stage pancreatic-cancer patients are still alive after five years. And half of all pancreatic-cancer patients live for less than a year after their diagnosis. For Perati, the drug, daraxonrasib from Revolution Medicines, has helped keep her alive for 17 months and counting. (Abbott, 2/28)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News: Future Of Cancer Coverage For Women Federal Firefighters Uncertain Under Trump

It took nearly three years to win presumptive workers’ compensation coverage for breast, cervical, and other cancers that firefighters who work for federal agencies may develop because of hazardous exposures on the job. Now, just weeks after the Labor Department added coverage for those illnesses, firefighters worry the gains may be in jeopardy after the Trump administration deleted information about the expansion of coverage for cancers that mostly affect women and transgender firefighters from a federal webpage and ducked questions about whether it will uphold the policy change made in the waning days of the Biden administration. (Mohr, 2/28)

Medical device recall events in 2024 reached their highest level since 2020 and more than 10% of them involved the most serious type of recall. There were 1,048 medical device recalls in 2024, an increase of almost 25% from the 840 recalls that occurred in 2023, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Class I recalls, the most serious type, accounted for 10.9% of recalls. (Dubinsky, 2/27)

Kristin King counts every day as a blessing ever since she received a heart transplant in September 2023. "Life can stop at any point in time," King told CBS News. "You never know when that will be. I was healthy, I had never had a heart problem in my life. And I needed a complete new organ." King's transplant occurred four months after her heart began to fail following childbirth. (Brand, 2/27)