Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: RFK Jr. In Public Health Would Be Disastrous; We Need An Outbreak Warning System
Mr. Kennedy has no meaningful claim to health expertise beyond an impressive geriatric six-pack and a do-your-own-research mantra. Nonetheless, he has gone from a fringe voice to the national leader of a rising 鈥渉ealth freedom鈥 movement powered by conspiracist thinking, resentment against the public health establishment and anti-vaccine fervor. (Rachael Bedard, 9/30)
鈥淛ust like we made our buildings more resistant to hurricanes and earthquakes and fires, we have to do that kind of stuff in our society for infectious diseases,鈥 says epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo, head of the Pandemic Center at Brown University. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e just going to keep coming.鈥 (F.D. Flam, 9/28)
The note was only a few paragraphs long, but sent shockwaves through the community of sickle cell disease specialists: Pfizer Inc. was pulling the drug Oxbryta off the market based on evidence its benefits no longer outweighed its risks. (Lisa Jarvis, 9/28)
IVF has taken center stage as a women鈥檚 reproductive rights issue, as it should. But with all this rhetoric, it鈥檚 clear there is a big misunderstanding about IVF just being a women鈥檚 issue. In almost half of all infertility cases in the United States, the man is a contributing cause. (Bill Meincke, 9/27)
How people think about rare events鈥攅specially unwelcome ones such as traumatic medical episodes or distressing diagnoses鈥攕eems to vary considerably depending on whether they have been directly affected by one. (Amanda Montanez, 9/27)