Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: A Biological Threat Could Slip Through The Cracks While US Agencies Are Paused
On Saturday, Jan. 11, as we entered the final week of the Biden-Harris administration, I got a call about a suspected Marburg outbreak in Tanzania. Marburg virus disease is like its close cousin Ebola, but worse. It can have a mortality rate as high as 80% and, unlike at least one strain of Ebola, we do not have an approved vaccine or treatment for Marburg. Our best hope for protecting Americans when an outbreak like this occurs is to stop it at its source. When the World Health Organization heard about the suspected outbreak, one of their first actions was to alert the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Stephanie Psaki, 1/27)
The parade of President Trump鈥檚 Cabinet appointees continues, with his nominees for key health jobs heading to the Senate this week for questioning. Meanwhile this new administration is upending the agencies it was chosen to lead, freezing external health communications and canceling scientific meetings that touch on a range of topics, from cancer to heart disease. In the process, the administration is raising concern about the future of billions in biomedical research funding and our ability to confront urgent public health crises, including the spread of bird flu among dairy cows. (Ashish K. Jha, 1/27)
Conversations about personal mental health issues seem to be shifting. Meet three Brevard residents who believe it's time to shed the stigma. (Sara Paulson, 1/24)
Tuesday night was the night we didn鈥檛 know anything. From news reports, panicked phone calls with our families, and nervous glances at the bloodied horizon where wildfires raged and smeared the sky with a fiery glow, we understood all too well the severity of the fires burning uncontrolled in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods. But the question on all of our minds was: Where are our patients? (Gabriel Waterman, 1/27)
For too long, Big Pharma has filled the airwaves with tons of commercials to fuel demand for its products while failing to disclose the inflated, ever-increasing price of these medications. Patients deserve to know the price of their medication. A healthy dose of transparency is the prescription Big Pharma needs. (U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, 1/27)
For people who study the opioid epidemic, 2025 marks a grim anniversary: It has been 30 years since the Food and Drug Administration approved the opioid OxyContin for the treatment of chronic pain. (Philip Eil, 1/24)
