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Donald Trump entered the White House eight years ago with a Cabinet full of traditional conservative credentials, tapping some people he barely knew to help him learn his way around Washington. Now the president-elect has rapidly assembled a different kind of team for his second term — enlisting people deeply critical of the agencies they will lead, bucking conservative orthodoxy with some of his picks and, above all, rewarding his most loyal allies. (Knowles, LeVine and Zakrzewski, 11/26)

“It’s very hard to defy your boss,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and former White House Covid-19 response coordinator under President Joe Biden. “There’s going to be an immense pressure on the CDC director, on the FDA commissioner, on all of these people. It’ll be very difficult for them to just make the decisions that are right for the health of the American people and not get swayed by someone who doesn’t understand evidence and data but has strongly held views.” (McPhillips, 11/26)

When it comes to tearing down corporate capture among the giants — Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Food, among others — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ideas echo those of some of the incoming Trump administration’s loudest critics. (Baumgaertner, 11/27)

�鶹Ů�� Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Public Health And The Dairy Cow In The Room

Public health, one of the more misunderstood concepts in the health world, is about the health of entire populations, rather than individuals. As a result, public health is closely tied to things like the environment, nutrition, and safety. With major concerns such as bird flu looming, President-elect Donald Trump’s priorities could translate into efforts that undermine those of public health workers. (Rovner, 11/26)

Donald Trump’s administration will likely support global immunization efforts, even though his proposed secretary of health and human services has voiced skepticism about such initiatives, according to the head of an organization that helps to vaccinate more than half of the world’s children. Sania Nishtar, chief executive officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said she’s hopeful that the bipartisan support the group received during Trump’s previous term as US president will carry through to his next four years. (Furlong and Lacqua, 11/26)

The United States’ future in the World Health Organization is again in flux with President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House. If the U.S. withdraws from the global health body, as Trump attempted to do in his first term, the WHO could lose its top government donor and hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions. In exchange, America could lose access to the global network that sets the flu vaccine’s composition every year, and U.S. drugmakers could lose the WHO’s help in selling their products, current and former U.S. government officials say. (Paun, 11/26)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Trump Doesn’t Need Congress To Make Abortion Effectively Unavailable

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump tried mightily to reassure abortion rights supporters, vowing he would not sign into law a nationwide abortion ban even if Congress sent him one. But once he returns to the White House in January, Trump can make abortions difficult — or illegal —across the United States without Congress taking action at all. (Rovner, 11/27)