Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: RFK Jr. Misrepresents FDA Melanoma Drug Rejection; Trump Team Taking Steps To End Title X
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn鈥檛 like our criticism of the Food and Drug Administration鈥檚 rejection of Replimune鈥檚 life-saving drug for metastatic melanoma. But the Health and Human Services Secretary鈥檚 statements at a House hearing last Thursday were as bewildering as the FDA rejection. (4/21)
The new Title X guidance from the Trump administration mentions contraception only once. (Jill Filipovic, 4/20)
The latest assault on Title X is also about abortion 鈥 one of the recently proposed changes is to cut off all funding to Planned Parenthood. But what鈥檚 more striking is the direct attack on birth control, something socially conservative politicians and activists have long been circumspect about undertaking. Not anymore. (Mary Ziegler, 4/22)
In the aftermath of the successful Artemis II mission, NASA is moving forward with the next steps of its plans to establish a base on the moon. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, crews will be operating at the lunar base within the next decade with an even more ambitious long-term goal: Mars.聽Human health in the space environment will be an important factor in these efforts. Among the concerns NASA should consider is the potential impacts of immunology and infectious disease. (Scott E. Solomon, 4/22)
The phone rings on the evening of Feb. 28, 2020. 鈥淲e need you to deploy to Seattle. Meet your team at Roybal tomorrow and additional details will be provided.鈥 For weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been tracking the spread of the novel coronavirus closely. (Eric J. Chow, Ariella Perry Dale and Matthew Donahue, 4/22)