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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday announced eight members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, populated mainly by critics of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine policies or those who don’t specialize in vaccine science. (DeGroot, Raman and Hellmann, 6/11)

For more than a half-century, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has relied on outside experts to guide the agency’s recommendations on how vaccines should be used to prevent the spread of infectious disease. That task will now fall to a panel that includes several individuals who’ve either been openly critical of vaccines or who have scant infectious disease expertise. (Lawrence, Herper, Cueto, Cooney, Joseph, Payne and Branswell, 6/11)

Dr. Edwin Asturias found out Monday he had been fired from his volunteer position on a federal vaccine advisory committee the way the rest of the country did: He read about it in an op-ed written by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The official notice — a two-sentence email, he said — arrived later in the afternoon. (Ingold, 6/12)

In related news about covid, HPV, measles, and more —

Moderna Inc. is in discussions with large drugmakers and financial firms to get funding for some late-stage vaccine trials as it works to develop its product portfolio while cutting costs. ... The biotech company is seeking outside deals as it navigates major changes to vaccine policy under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and declining sales of its Covid shot. (Smith, 6/11)

As summer brings another rise in COVID-19 infections, patients across Asia, Europe and North America are reporting a searing sore throat so intense it has earned a dramatic nickname: “razor blade throat.” Though not a new symptom, the phenomenon has gained fresh attention amid the spread of a fast-moving Omicron subvariant, formally known as NB.1.8.1 and colloquially as “Nimbus.” Patients in China and elsewhere describe the pain as akin to “swallowing shattered glass,” with some saying they’ve been left unable to speak, eat, or even stay hydrated. (Vaziri, 6/11)

A new study from UCLA researchers has found that while people with COVID-19 symptoms typically recovered physically within three months, many continued to struggle with mental well-being for up to nine months. Even a year later, 1 in 5 participants still reported poor overall health. Published Tuesday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, the study tracked more than 1,400 individuals who experienced COVID-like symptoms between December 2020 and August 2022. About 75% of the participants tested positive for the virus. Over a year, researchers surveyed them every three months on key aspects of health-related quality of life, including sleep, fatigue, cognitive function and social engagement. (Vaziri, 6/10)

A 2022 survey of more than 1,000 healthcare providers (HCPs) at US college medical centers reveals that less than half routinely check the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination histories of most female patients. Last week in BMC Public Health, University of Rhode Island-led researchers described their survey of 1,159 nurse practitioners (NPs), physicians, and physician assistants about their HPV screening practices for women. (Van Beusekom, 6/11)

Iowa has announced its second measles case, an adult male from the eastern part of the state who was vaccinated and whose travel history is still under investigation. This is the third measles case in Iowa this year. Iowa last identified measles in 2019. Health officials in Montana's Gallatin County also confirmed two more measles cases, including one person who was exposed to an earlier case and another who likely acquired the virus through community transmission. ... The county now has 12 cases of measles this year. (Soucheray, 6/11)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reinstating more than 400 people who had received layoff notices, according to an email from CDC leadership to employees seen by POLITICO. The rehiring, announced internally Wednesday, marks the largest number of employees that the agency has asked back to date. (Gardner, 6/11)

Talk to us — 

We’d like to speak with personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies about what’s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message us on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or get in touch here.

More on the federal budget cuts and restructuring —

For D’Asia Jackson, every day is a guessing game over whether excruciating pain will upend her life. The 28-year-old medical assistant was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited condition that causes red blood cells to be shaped like a crescent moon. ... The guidelines, called the U.S. Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, provided the latest research for doctors, including an app that recommended which contraceptive methods were safe. The app has been downloaded more than 440,000 times, according to the CDC. Now, the work of that team has been halted as part of the reduction of the Women’s Health and Fertility Branch of the Division of Reproductive Health. (Brooks and Essamuah, 6/11)

The oncology community has sounded the alarm over the Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal, which includes near-40% cuts in funding for the NIH and National Cancer Institute (NCI). Released in early May, the proposal calls for reducing the NIH budget allocation from $46 billion to $28 billion (~39%) and NCI funding from $7.2 billion to $4.45 billion (~38%). The reductions far exceed those for the overall budget, which would trim 22.6% from all non-military spending, as compared with the current funding levels. (Bankhead, 6/11)

On the surface, the National Institutes of Health’s brand new autism research initiative is alluring: $50 million to study autism’s causes and services for autistic people, and access to data from existing public and private databases. But the opportunity’s nontraditional funding mechanism, accelerated timeline, and lack of transparency around who will review the applications are casting a shadow over the initiative, which many scientists and potential applicants worry could fuel false claims about the condition. (Broderick, 6/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen: With Vital Health Research Defunded, Who’s Losing Out?
An analysis by �鶹Ů�� Health News found that the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health have been felt in both red and blue states, across political and geographic lines. Scientists warn these cuts will stall progress on urgent health issues and could set back care for vulnerable communities. More reductions in health research spending could be ahead. The Trump administration’s budget proposal for next year calls on Congress to slash the NIH budget more than 40%. (Bichell, 6/12)

Also —

The Supreme Court is expected to release several opinions in cases the justices heard this term this morning, starting at 10 a.m. Some of them may be among the most important cases of this term, which started in October. The justices this term heard arguments on transgender rights; in three major cases on religion in public life; in two cases on efforts to curb gun violence; and in two others on limiting speech on the internet. After the election of President Trump, the court was also inundated with emergency applications arising from his scores of executive orders. Decisions in some cases have been released already; all are expected by early July. (Liptak, VanSickle and Parlapiano, 6/12)

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is out with its contributions to the "One Big Beautiful Bill," which include provisions reviving cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurance exchange carriers. The draft legislation, which the panel released late Tuesday, mirrors language in the House-passed version of the measure to extend tax cuts President Donald Trump enacted during his first term. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates this aspect of the House bill would reduce gross Silver plan premiums by 12% but cause 300,000 people to lose health coverage. (McAuliff, 6/11)

Senate Republicans appear less likely to try to make changes to Medicare Advantage as part of their massive tax and spending bill, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said Wednesday. Cramer raised the idea of targeting Medicare Advantage for additional savings last week after a closed-door caucus meeting, saying the program is ideal for reform because it is rife with waste, fraud and abuse. (Weixel, 6/11)

Physicians are divided over how the massive Republican budget bill moving through Congress would insulate doctors from future Medicare cuts without continuing financial incentives to provide better care through alternative payment models. (Goldman, 6/12)

Republicans are using their domestic policy megabill as an opportunity to pile on new tax breaks in hopes of quickly juicing people’s tax refunds, the economy and their political fortunes ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Their plan would spend more than $200 billion on tax cuts this year, in addition to simply extending tax cuts enacted in 2017 that are set to expire at the end of this year and would likely go unnoticed by most taxpayers. Republicans are already touting the coming benefits to voters, though they risk being eclipsed by complaints from Democrats that the wealthy would see much bigger tax cuts and that people at the bottom of the income ladder would receive little while being hurt by cuts in spending on programs like Medicaid. (Faler, 6/12)

More updates from Capitol Hill —

Three Democratic members of Congress have introduced a bill to limit companies’ ability to hoover up data about people’s reproductive health – a measure, they say, that is necessary to protect women from persecution in the post-Roe v Wade era. Representative Sara Jacobs of California, Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on Wednesday filed the “my body, my data” bill in both the US House and Senate. The bill aims to block companies from collecting, using, retaining or disclosing information about someone’s reproductive health unless that data is essential to providing a requested service. (Sherman, 6/11)

Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy (La.) is the latest Republican to take an interest in legislation that would tie U.S. brand drug prices to lower prices in other wealthy countries, according to seven people following the issue. (Wilkerson, 6/11)

A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers is calling on the Trump administration to address the continued sale of illicit, compounded GLP-1 products, warning that consumers may be accessing these drugs without knowing the product could be fraudulent. North Carolina Reps. Brad Knott (R) and Deborah Ross (D) wrote to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, imploring them to end the sale of “counterfeit, research-grade and illegal copycats” of popular GLP-1 medications. (Choi, 6/11)

UnitedHealth Group’s financial outlook has been downgraded to “negative,” from “stable,” by two credit rating agencies. In a report published Monday, Moody’s Ratings cited numerous factors — Medicare Advantage costs exceeding expectations, a rise in debt after the Change Healthcare cyberattack, a decline in risk-based capital this year, reduced interest coverage and news reports about Justice Department civil and criminal investigations into its Medicare billing — as growing credit risks for UnitedHealth. (Tepper, 6/11)

Thousands of Californians who get medical care at UC Health through Blue Shield of California — including many in the Bay Area who go to UCSF and One Medical, a UCSF affiliate — may need to find a different health insurer or pay out-of-network rates for services if the parties cannot reach a new contract by July 10. UC Health and Blue Shield, two of California’s largest health care industry players, are renegotiating contracts to establish how much Blue Shield will reimburse for services provided by UC Health hospitals, clinics and other facilities. One Medical is an affiliate of UCSF Health, one of the six UC Health academic health centers. (Ho, 6/11)

Blue Shield of California has teamed up with Zocdoc for members to more easily schedule in-person appointments with providers in their health plan network, the companies announced on Wednesday. Zocdoc connects consumers with primary care providers and specialists and to see their schedules and book appointments digitally. Blue Shield of California is bringing that seamless digital experience to its members to facilitate access to covered providers. (Beavins, 6/11)

Healthcare providers, payers and other companies are facing an uncertain regulatory and political environment — one that could compound existing staffing, revenue and care-delivery challenges. But leaders shouldn't let such unpredictability keep them from investing in long-term strategy or putting resources toward technology, executives say. (Eastabrook, Hudson and Tepper, 6/11)

New data has revealed the states where hospital care is the worst ranked by patients. The study, led from the University of Utah, analyzed 3,286 hospitals across the country, using data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which ran from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. (O'Connor, 6/11)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘Letters To The Editor’: Readers Endorse Doctor Migration And Shun 'Elderspeak'
�鶹Ů�� Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (6/12)

A trio of states with Democratic governors viewed as potential 2028 presidential candidates have taken steps in recent weeks to freeze or cut government-funded health care coverage for undocumented immigrants. Democratic Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota have largely attributed the proposals to budget shortfalls stemming from original plans to expand health care to immigrants without legal status. (Edelman, 6/11)

More immigration news from California and Ohio —

As protests in Los Angeles became more widespread and some turned violent over the weekend, leaders of the Veterans Affairs L.A. Ambulatory Care Center made the tough call to close the facility, which serves thousands of patients a week. The center is one of four federal buildings in a block in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood, the focus of demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and the center of ongoing operations by the Los Angeles Police Department and Army National Guard. (Kime, 6/11)

Hospitals across Ohio could soon face a choice: Let federal immigration agents inside to arrest patients or lose access to state funding. That’s the ultimatum behind House Bill 281, a bill from Rep. Josh Williams, a Toledo-area Republican. (Staver, 6/11)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

It was in a San Antonio courtroom in 2015 that Leo Tyler felt he became who he was always meant to be. The 17-year-old had long known he was trans, but it didn’t feel real until a judge agreed to change the name and gender on his government documents. “It was euphoric,” Tyler, now 27, recalls. “Walking out of that courtroom, I felt so seen.” (Klibanoff, 6/12)

Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation publicly unveiled 16 one-bedroom housing units in Cahokia Heights on Wednesday, marking the completion of the first portion of its affordable housing development. (Bauer, 6/12)

For up to four hours at a time, William Buhl attentively monitors a person who is on suicide watch at Nash Correctional Institution — a medium custody prison in Nashville. Buhl sits at a table outside a cell with a direct view of his subject. He observes their behavior, records notes every 15 minutes and offers an open ear. (Crumpler, 6/12)

Democrats in the Colorado legislature this year passed a dozen bills imposing new gun regulations, all of which were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. They included measures limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today, raising the minimum age to buy ammunition and aiming to improve Colorado’s response to mass shootings. (Paul, 6/12)

When 11-year-old Sam plays the small, bright blue guitar she got for her birthday, she feels happy. “Because the music is like, calm,” she said. Sam sat facing her teacher, Adam Petty, in a darkened theater that has been converted into a practice room at the Wildhorse Cinema + Arts in Steamboat Springs. (Paterson, 6/12)

The U.S. death rate from alcohol-related liver disease roughly doubled over two decades and was exacerbated by the pandemic, with women, young adults and Indigenous people experiencing the sharpest rise, a study in JAMA Network Open found. (Reed, 6/12)

Check your medicine cabinet — Zicam nasal swabs and Orajel baby teething swabs are being recalled due to potential microbial contamination, according to federal health officials. In an alert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., the brands' manufacturer, voluntarily issued the recall after the potential contamination was discovered, which was identified as fungi in the cotton swab components of the products. (Moniuszko, 6/11)

Midea’s recall of 1.7 million air-conditioners is causing frustration and confusion among its design-conscious user base. The problem, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, is that water could be pooling inside the air-conditioners instead of draining. Any window unit can become moldy, because of the condensation that is produced when warm air cools. But moldy air-conditioners may carry respiratory health risks for those who use them.(Kircher and Holtermann, 6/11)

David Murdock, a high school dropout who became a billionaire as proprietor of one of the biggest private corporate empires in the US, has died. He was 102. He died on June 9, according to William Goldfield, a spokesman for Dole Food Co., which Murdock led from 1985 to 2021. (Arnold, 6/11)

On the environment and your health —

The Associated Press asked 30 different scientists, experts in climate, health and economics, about the scientific reality behind this proposal. Nineteen of them responded, all saying that the proposal was scientifically wrong and many of them called it disinformation. Here’s what eight of them said. “This is the scientific equivalent to saying that smoking doesn’t cause lung cancer,” said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the tech firm Stripe and the temperature monitoring group Berkeley Earth. (Borenstein, 6/12)

A Tulane University researcher resigned Wednesday, citing censorship from university leaders who had warned that her advocacy and research exposing the Louisiana petrochemical industry’s health impacts and racial disparities in hiring had triggered blowback from donors and elected officials. In her resignation letter, Kimberly Terrell accused the university of sacrificing academic freedom to appease Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. (Brook, 6/12)

Climate disasters are known for damaging homes, disrupting power and displacing residents. But even after the lights come back on and people return to their homes, their effects can linger — including in the brains of children born afterwards, a new study suggests. Climate stressors, and the effect they have on pregnant people, appear to affect the brain development of their babies, according to the study published in PLOS One on Wednesday, which relied on brain imaging conducted years after 2012’s Superstorm Sandy hit the New York City metro area. (Court, 6/11)

Using the progestogen-only contractive pill "desogestrel" for more than five years may increase the risk of developing a type of brain tumor known as an "intracranial meningioma," a new study has warned. The researchers noted that the risk is low—and is eliminated one year after desogestrel treatment is suspended—but that doctors' awareness of the possibility could eliminate the need for surgery in some cases. (Gray, 6/11)

Shorter leukocyte telomere length -- a marker of biological aging -- was tied to a higher risk of age-related brain disease, but modifiable risk factors appeared to mitigate its effect, U.K. Biobank data suggested. In a study of over 350,000 people, those with the shortest leukocyte telomeres had an elevated risk of subsequent dementia, stroke, or late-life depression compared with the longest telomeres, reported Christopher Anderson, MD, MMSc, of Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues. (George, 6/11)

Antibiotic exposure during pregnancy or early childhood is associated with increased risk of childhood atopic dermatitis (AD), according to a study published yesterday in eClinicalMedicine. In a review and meta-analysis, Chinese researchers examined 39 cohort studies involving expectant mothers and young children younger than 5 years old to explore the association between antibiotic exposure and the risk of childhood AD, a chronic skin condition characterized by inflammation, eczema-like lesions, and severe itching. (Dall, 6/11)

A new gene-tracking study in Nature shows that mpox spread among people in Nigeria for 8 years before it sparked a global outbreak in 2022. Using genomic tracing, researchers from Nigeria, the United States, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Belgium estimate that the ancestor of the clade 2 mpox virus (mpxv) that ignited an international outbreak beginning in May 2022 first emerged in southern Nigeria in August 2014 and spread to 11 Nigerian states before human infections were detected in 2017. "We could have very easily prevented the 2022 multi-country outbreak if countries in Africa were given better access to therapeutics, vaccines, and surveillance technologies," one author said. (Wappes, 6/6)

When researchers at the University of California at San Francisco examined social media use and depressive symptoms among tweens over a three-year period, they found that an increase in social media use predicted a future rise in symptoms of depression — but not the other way around. The study, published in May in the American Medical Journal’s association journal JAMA, followed nearly 12,000 preteens over three years starting at age 9 to 10. (Gibson, 6/11)

The Quaker House in Fayetteville once counseled members of the military who had moral qualms about going to Vietnam. Now it’s advising soldiers who have moral qualms about going to Los Angeles. The Quaker House is one of several groups that operates the GI Rights Hotline (877-447-4487). The hotline has become extra hot since President Trump sent the National Guard and then the Marines into Los Angeles in response to protests over federal immigration raids. (Ned Barnett, 6/11)

Until now, Americans have counted on independent experts to make recommendations after public, fact-based deliberations. Based on what we have all now witnessed, we can no longer rely on our government to do that. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions since his confirmation underscore the urgent need for those who care about protecting lives from vaccine-preventable diseases to come together now to create an alternative process to maintain vaccine access and ensure that vaccine recommendations are evidence-based and not driven by one individual's personal ideology. The Vaccine Integrity Project is fully committed to advancing this effort. (Vaccine Integrity Project Staff and Advisers, 6/10)

Abortion is banned in Missouri — for now. That’s not because people don’t need care, or because voters didn’t speak clearly on Amendment 3 last November. Just weeks ago, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the preliminary injunctions blocking old anti-abortion laws must be considered again under a different legal standard, a technical ruling with a very real impact. The state’s abortion bans — yes, multiple! — are reinstated while litigation continues. (Emily Wales, 6/11)

As an adoptee who was placed in foster care at 18 months old, I’ve never known my full racial heritage, family tree, or medical history. People have often suggested I try 23andMe or a similar company to get more information on my genetics. But I’ve always felt uneasy about it. (Leslie Vooris, 6/12)

Your chance of developing dementia at some point is uncomfortably high. Forty-two percent of Americans older than 55 will develop the condition during their lifetime, a recent Nature Medicine study estimates. It’s also on the rise: More than 500,000 had it in 2020; by 2060, that’s expected to double. (Leana S. Wen, 6/10)