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A senior US public health official called on Americans to get vaccinated against measles as outbreaks continue in multiple states and concerns grow that the country could lose its measles elimination designation. Dr Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, spoke in support on Sunday of the measles vaccine. “Take the vaccine, please,” said Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “We have a solution for our problem.” (Dunbar and agencies, 2/8)

Health officials are warning that confirmed cases of measles may have spread at this year's National March for Life rally and concert in Washington, D.C. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators converged upon the National Mall and other locations in the nation's capital for the annual event at the end of January. The DC Department of Health says it's working to identify people who are at risk. (Wright, 2/8)

There have been at least 733 confirmed measles cases reported across the nation, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed Friday. In just a few weeks, the United States reported four times as many cases than typically seen throughout an entire calendar year, the CDC said. Before last year, which had a record breaking 2,276 cases, the U.S. averaged 180 cases annually since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. The record numbers come as South Carolina is dealing with the largest outbreak recorded in recent memory. (Benadjaoud, 2/6)

New cases of measles are popping up across Florida, with 15 illnesses confirmed statewide, according to data from the Florida Department of Health. But other cases, including 20 in Collier County and one in Pinellas County, don't show up on the department's website. It updates every Thursday, and by then the information is many days old. As of Monday, the case count ends Jan. 31. (Sheridan, 2/9)

Members of the federal vaccine panel chosen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are setting their sights on the next targets: the mRNA Covid shots, and vaccines offered to pregnant women. The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, already has imposed some limits on access to Covid vaccines and has rescinded recommendations for some routine childhood shots. Several of the panelists have said — contrary to scientific consensus — that they believe the Covid shots are dangerous and should be taken off the market. (Mandavilli, 2/6)

The effectiveness of this season’s flu vaccine in Canada is 40% against medically attended infection with influenza A(H3N2) viruses, 37% against newly emerged and predominant subclade K of the H3N2 strain, and 31% against the H1N1 influenza A strain, an interim analysis estimates. (Van Beusekom, 2/6)

Public trust in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remains near its lowest point since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a �鶹Ů�� Tracking Poll published today. “Six years ago, 85% of Americans, and 90% of Republicans, trusted the CDC. Now less than half trust the CDC on vaccines,” �鶹Ů�� President and CEO Drew Altman, PhD, said in a news release. “The wars over COVID, science, and vaccines have left the country without a trusted national voice on vaccines, and that trust will take time to restore.” (Bergeson, 2/6)

Two cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of COVID-19 were recently identified at a massive immigration detention center in El Paso, according to city officials and a Democratic congresswoman. (Deguzman and Kriel, 2/7)

A new study by federal and state health researchers indicates invasive Escherichia coli infections are a growing problem in the United States and becoming harder to treat. The study, by scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local public health departments, published this week in JAMA Network Open, found an estimated annual incidence rate of more than 74 extraintestinal invasive E coli infections per 100,000 population, with urinary tract infections (UTIs) accounting for more than half of the associated infection types identified by blood culture. (Dall, 2/6)

The Trump administration’s top Medicare official has suggested that alleged fraud in Maine’s social services programs may be on par with the welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz said there is “another big crisis” concerning alleged social services fraud in Maine during an appearance on John Catsimatidis’s “The Cats Roundtable” radio show. “It turns out that Maine looks a lot like Minnesota,” Oz said in the interview, which aired Sunday morning. (Davis, 2/8)

A New York judge on Friday extended a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from slashing funds to social service programs in five Democrat-led states. U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick made his ruling at the request of Minnesota, California, Illinois, New York and Colorado. The states receive more than $10 billion a year from the federal government for its programs, which help with child care and family assistance. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) praised the ruling in a statement, saying the “illegal funding freeze would have caused severe chaos in the lives of some of the most vulnerable families in our state.” (Mancini, 2/7)

The Trump administration celebrated a recent statement from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, which recommends that doctors delay gender-related surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old. "Today marks another victory for biological truth in the Trump administration," wrote Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O'Neill said in a press release. "The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has set the scientific and medical standard for all provider groups to follow." (Simmons-Duffin, 2/8)

The Trump administration is moving forward with a personnel rule that critics say will subject a broader swath of the federal workforce to political pressure, raising concerns that the change could deter accomplished scientists from joining the federal workforce and give political appointees greater influence over grant decisions. (Oza, 2/6)

Melinda Holland started last year with high hopes for her business. Instead, 2025 ended with the company’s first layoffs in 40 years. That’s due largely to the policies of one man: President Donald Trump. The cuts his administration made last year to federal science programs undercut a key piece of Holland’s business, a small technology company named Wildlife Computers. Her company, based in Washington state, makes the data-collecting tags that scientists use to track animals in the field. (Harvey, 2/8)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments To Guantánamo

Rebekah Stewart, a nurse at the U.S. Public Health Service, got a call last April that brought her to tears. She had been selected for deployment to the Trump administration’s new immigration detention operation at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. This posting combined Donald Trump’s longtime passion to use the offshore base to move “some bad dudes” out of the United States with a promise made shortly after his inauguration last year to hold thousands of noncitizens there. The naval base is known for the torture and inhumane treatment of men suspected of terrorism in the wake of 9/11. (Maxmen, 2/9)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has started its long-awaited, multistage relocation of Washington-based staff to Alexandria, Virginia, even as questions swirl over the move’s legality, cost and congressional oversight. (Dumay, 2/8)

Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is working to persuade Americans that they should postpone retirement for one year. The question is whether they’ll buy it. He has repeatedly said delaying retirement — a fraught decision for millions, especially lower earners who have undersaved for it — marks physical vigor, and could help grow the economy or reduce the national debt. (Winfield Cunningham, 2/8)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s allies are airing an ad during the Super Bowl featuring Mike Tyson boosting the Make America Healthy Again campaign, giving Kennedy another high-profile perch as allies look for ways to bolster his MAHA movement. The ad, paid for by the nonprofit MAHA Center, highlights new dietary guidelines announced by the Health and Human Services secretary in January and urges viewers to “eat real food,” borrowing a line regularly used by Kennedy about his nutrition recommendations. (Pellish, 2/6)

It turns out there is a way for a foreign company to make it in Donald Trump’s Washington. Oura rings are on fingers from the Pentagon to Capitol Hill, tracking everything from sleep quality to fertility. Their Finnish maker’s success stems from design savvy and good timing, but also shrewd attention to the way politics works in the capital. (Chu, 2/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Watch: Is MAHA The New MAGA?

Republicans have hitched themselves to the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, banking on its popularity to give them an electoral bounce. But the strategy carries risks.Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who rails against Big Pharma and ultraprocessed food, is the leader of the movement. And Americans’ support for Kennedy is cratering. Plus, polls show voters care more about reducing health care costs than MAHA priorities such as ending vaccine mandates and promoting raw milk. (Norman and Sable-Smith, 2/9)

This week, President Donald Trump signed into law a $5.9 billion spending package aimed at supporting the global response to HIV/AIDS and global public health. The signing of the appropriations bill was hailed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as providing life-saving support for millions of people across the globe. (Bergeson, 2/6)

In the $1.2 trillion budget package signed Tuesday, a little-known healthcare provision was reauthorized that will allow millions of people on Medicare to access diabetes prevention education online. (Beavins, 2/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Journalists Describe Drivers Of High Health Costs And Spell Out The Science Of Protein

�鶹Ů�� Health News senior correspondent Renuka Rayasam discussed concerns about health care costs following the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits on CBS News’ CBS News 24/7 on Feb. 5. Rayasam also discussed rising health insurance costs on WUGA’s The Georgia Health Report on Jan. 30. (2/7)

President Trump said his administration’s new TrumpRx website will offer the cheapest prices in the world for 43 brand-name drugs, and counting. But about half of them are already available as generics, usually for much less. (Wilkerson, Parker, Cirruzzo, Chen and Payne, 2/6)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) blasted the direct-to-consumer (DTC) TrumpRx platform launched by the administration Thursday, denouncing it as a “glorified coupon book.” The Trump administration launched its DTC discount drug portal TrumpRx.gov Thursday evening. ... The discounts ranged from 33 percent to 93 percent for drugs treating obesity, diabetes, asthma and infertility. Administration officials said Thursday that more drugs would be added. (Choi, 2/6)

Hims & Hers, a major online provider of obesity medications, said on Saturday that it would stop selling a cheap knockoff version of Novo Nordisk’s new pill version of its popular weight loss drug Wegovy, bowing to pressure from federal regulators who suggested the product might be illegal. Hims had just introduced the offering on Thursday and was immediately met with sharp backlash. On Friday, the top lawyer for the Department of Health and Human Services, Mike Stuart, wrote on X that his office had referred Hims to the Justice Department for potential violations of a federal law that regulates the sale of medications. (Robbins, 2/7)

As the Winter Olympic Games get underway, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is monitoring an unexpected class of drugs: GLP-1 receptor agonists. An advisory group that makes recommendations about WADA's list of prohibited substances discussed the status of GLP-1 medications, and added semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) to its monitoring program, a spokesperson for WADA told MedPage Today in an email. (Henderson, 2/6)

Eli Lilly & Co. is paying $350 million upfront to collaborate with Chinese biotech Innovent Biologics Inc. in developing new treatments for cancer and immune disorders, a further vote of confidence for the innovation capabilities of the country’s drugmakers. Innovent could see up to $8.5 billion in milestone payments, the Suzhou-based company said in a press release Sunday. The firms didn’t specify the number of medicines included in the deal. Innovent’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped as much as 8.6% on Monday. (Tong, 2/9)

Baxter International cut about 3% of the workforce at its North Carolina manufacturing facility. The North Cove facility in Marion, which produces about 60% of the U.S. supply of IV solutions, was significantly affected by Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Although the facility has returned to pre-hurricane production and inventory levels, the disruptions affected clients’ IV usage and demand. The shift led the company to realign operations with market conditions and lay off about 90 employees in late January, according to Baxter. (Dubinsky, 2/6)

MultiCare Health System has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with law enforcement to resolve allegations it ignored “numerous red flags” and knowingly permitted and billed procedures conducted by a neurosurgeon under investigation for fraudulent, medically unnecessary care. (Muoio, 2/6)

Molina Healthcare is looking to acquire Medicaid carriers as it exits the Medicare Advantage market. State reimbursements have fallen short of Medicaid members’ expenses, CEO Joe Zubretsky told analysts during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Friday. The challenging funding environment, however, presents an opportunity to buy smaller insurers that lack the capital to tough out the difficult cycle, Zubretsky said. (Tepper, 2/6)

Medicare Advantage insurers processed 52.8 million prior authorization requests in 2024, a 6% increase from the prior year and 42.3% more than in 2019, according to an analysis by the health policy research group �鶹Ů��. These health insurance companies at least partly denied 7.7% of prior authorization requests in 2024, up from 6.4% in 2023, the review of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data found. The number of requests per Medicare Advantage member declined slightly to 1.7 in 2024. (Tepper, 2/5)

The health insurance industry was caught off guard by the federal government’s recent proposal to keep next year’s payments to Medicare Advantage plans mostly flat, and to change a controversial coding practice. But another equally significant change has flown under the radar — and is a major reason why some insurers may face big hits to revenue. (Herman, 2/9)

Aetna is continuing to build out its digital member experience with the launch of a new onboarding program designed to ease the process. The insurer said Thursday that the platform will be available to 4 million new members during the welcome period for their enrollment. (Minemyer, 2/6)

Epic Systems made another move earlier this week to advance its artificial intelligence strategy. The large electronic health record vendor hosted an event for its customers on Wednesday, where it officially launched its AI charting tool. The customizable ambient listening feature aims to help clinicians write notes and offers guidance based on these conversations. The feature is an expansion of Art, Epic’s suite of AI for clinicians that it announced in August at the company’s user group meeting. The AI charting tool is available to customers immediately. Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, is among the early adopters. (Famakinwa, 2/6)

Johns Hopkins University research staff announced plans this week to start a union in an effort to get higher pay, transparent career paths and more job security. (Bazos, 2/4)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: This Ballad Hospital, Flooded By Hurricane Helene, Will Be Rebuilt For $44M In A Flood Plain

A small Tennessee hospital that was destroyed by a surging river during Hurricane Helene will soon be rebuilt on low-lying farmland that could face several feet of flooding in a much smaller storm, risking another disaster if the new facility is not built to withstand extreme weather, according to a �鶹Ů�� Health News analysis. (Kelman, 2/9)

Women who served in the Gulf War were three times more likely to experience an early onset of menopause based on exposures to dangerous chemicals, according to a new study and reporting from Scienceline. (Damask, 2/8)

A major study suggests menopause is linked to changes in brain structure, mental health, and sleep. Brain scans revealed grey matter loss in areas tied to memory and emotional regulation, while many women reported increased anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Hormone therapy did not reverse these effects, though it may slow age-related declines in reaction speed. Researchers say menopause could represent an important turning point for brain health. (2/7)

After vetoing a menopause care bill last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveils proposal to improve access to menopause resources and education. (Wingo, 2/6)

Arizona must stop enforcing abortion restrictions that predate and contradict a 2024 voter-approved constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, a judge ordered in a ruling released Friday. Maricopa Superior Court Judge Greg Como found that the older laws present unnecessary obstacles to getting an abortion, including barring one if a woman was seeking it because the fetus had a non-fatal genetic abnormality, and requiring patients to see a doctor twice, at least 24 hours apart, before obtaining one. (Mulvihill and Govindarao, 2/6)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a sharply worded — and profane — response after Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced plans to sue California and New York in an effort to force the states to extradite doctors accused of prescribing abortion pills to patients in Louisiana. “Louisiana plans to sue me because I won’t extradite a doctor for providing an abortion,” Newsom wrote on X. Directly addressing Murrill, he added: “Go ---- yourself. California will never help you criminalize healthcare.” (Hilburn and Ward, 2/6)

A bill filed in the Iowa Statehouse would make abortion a crime and expand legal definitions for fetuses in civil and criminal cases. In wrongful-death lawsuits, the bill would expand "death of a child" to include the death of an unborn child. It further defines an unborn child as a human organism from fertilization. (2/6)

The death toll from a bitter cold spell in New York City climbed to 18 on Sunday, as many New Yorkers hunkered down at home while others braved the outdoors despite dangerously low wind chills. The most recent fatality was a person found around 9 a.m. Saturday near East Gun Hill Road and Seymour Avenue in the Bronx, a City Hall official said. (Southall and Rashbaum, 2/8)

California state health authorities are warning people to stop foraging wild mushrooms as the death toll from a poisoning outbreak increased to four and as more than three dozen people have been sickened since November. Typically, there are five or fewer mushroom poisoning cases in California each year, according to the state’s public health department. In the most recent outbreak, people between 19 months and 67 years old have been sickened after eating death cap mushrooms, which can resemble mushrooms found in grocery stores. (Holpuch, 2/8)

Residents and advocates gathered Saturday to demand the ban of a chemical that’s used at a Torrance oil refinery and that they say has the potential to cause a mass casualty disaster. Hydrofluoric acid is used in about 40 gasoline refineries across the United States, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The defense council states that “exposing as little as 1% of a person’s skin to HF (about the size of one’s hand) can lead to death. When inhaled, HF can fatally damage lungs, disrupt heart rhythms, and cause other serious health effects.” (Mendez, 2/7)

North Carolina’s struggle with PFAS contamination underscores the unintended consequences that can follow widespread chemical use — even as Congress is considering overhauling the nation’s foremost chemical safety law. (Atwater, 2/9)

Repairs on a pipe rupture that has sent sewage flowing into the Potomac River northwest of Washington, D.C., will take weeks more to repair because of an unexpected blockage, according to the local water authority. In a release posted on its website Thursday, DC Water, which operates the sewer system, said a video inspection of the pipeline revealed the blockage inside the collapsed sewer line “is far more significant” than originally thought. It said it discovered a large rock dam about 30 feet (9 meters) from the breach in the sewage line, which requires treatment before the current spill can be addressed. (Fields, 2/6)

University of Iowa researchers said they have completed preliminary modeling for breast and prostate cancers, and are about a fourth of the way through a two-year project seeking to shed some light on why Iowa has some of the high cancer rates in the country. (Krebs, 2/5)

Gov. Wes Moore (D), who calls quantum computing a “lighthouse industry” for Maryland, has secured more than $1 billion in funding to help create a local industry hub. (Shepherd and Good, 2/8)

A man in his late 30s says he’s finally ready to speak the words out loud: “I have a gambling problem.” He dials the number for the help line he has seen advertised during countless games. A protective sister calls to find out who is on the other end of the line. Satisfied, she plans to pass the number to her brother, a prolific sports bettor. “It can take over people’s lives,” she tells the sympathetic operator. (Rao, 2/8)

A trial focused on the dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media and whether Meta misrepresented the safety of its platforms is set to start in New Mexico with opening statements Monday. It’s the first stand-alone trial from state prosecutors in a stream of lawsuits against major social media companies, including Meta, over harm to children, and one that is likely to highlight explicit online content and its effects. (Lee, 2/9)

The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening arguments for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, begin this week. Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube will face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums. (Huamani and Ortutay, 2/9)

During the first Trump administration, the Food and Drug Administration was widely viewed as a standout agency, enhancing and expediting drug regulation, regulating tobacco and vaping, and addressing food safety. In the first year of Trump’s second term, the FDA, along with many other health agencies, has turned into a politicized and demoralized agency. Conversely, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services  — which oversees $1.7 trillion in outlays for health care services, 24% of the federal budget — has become the shining star. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Merjan L. Ozisik, 2/9)

Given the growing harms from marijuana use, American lawmakers should do more to regulate it. (2/9)

When CBS News designates these influencers with deep commercial entanglements as “expert contributors” and widens their platform, it further perpetuates this cycle of pseudoscientific health consumerism being passed off as sound evidence-based health advice. (Dr. Adrian Chavez, 2/6)

For those without “kith or kin,” we may need to create a new profession skilled in serving as the “trusted other” (perhaps this is the same profession I’ve argued for to foster access to the technologies that support a person living with cognitive impairment). Law and medicine must work out important details, such as how to record the care partner in the electronic medical record, the conditions for contacting them, when they ought to attend a visit, and whether they should have private time with the clinician. (Jason Karlawish, 2/6)

A kid’s first joke reveals a complex mind. (Gina Mireault, 2/4)