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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to shift the way vaccines are tested, a move that the agency said will increase transparency but that medical experts fear could limit access to vaccines and undermine the public’s trust in immunization depending on its implementation. The potential change outlined in a statement says all new vaccines will be required to undergo placebo testing, a procedure in which some people receive the vaccine and others receive an inert substance — such as a saline shot — before the results are compared. (Weber, Roubein, Sun and Johnson, 4/30)

In a shift away from next-generation Covid-19 vaccines, the Trump administration is investing $500 million in a vaccine project championed by two scientists who were recently tapped to serve in senior roles within the National Institutes of Health, according to emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The unusually large sum comes as the nation’s health agencies are cutting budgets, shrinking staff and terminating hundreds of active research grants. (Subbaraman, 5/1)

Without evidence, anti-vaccine lawyer Aaron Siri and activist Del Bigtree have claimed on the internet show "The HighWire" that the CDC scattered the vaccine safety data after Kennedy took office, making it unavailable for Kennedy’s team to examine. The goal, according to Siri, was to “thwart the ability for the current administration to actually conduct a study in the VSD.” ... A CDC spokesperson confirmed that nothing about the stewardship of VSD data had changed in the last year. (Zadrozny, 4/30)

The University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) has announced the steering committee members for its Vaccine Integrity Project, which was introduced last week. (Van Beusekom, 4/30)

Measles cases are continuing to spread throughout the U.S. with outbreaks in at least six states. Public health experts have previously said lagging vaccination rates are to blame for the rise in cases, at least partly due to vaccine hesitancy and vaccine fatigue left over from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even a small uptick in MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination could prevent millions of infections, according to new research. (Kekatos, 4/30)

Officials said one of the cases was detected in an adult who is a suburban Cook County resident whose vaccination status is unknown. This person received care at a local hospital on April 28 and has since been quickly isolated. The other case was identified in an adult Chicago resident who had recently traveled internationally through O'Hare International Airport in early April and had received one prior dose of the MMR vaccine, according to officials. (4/30)

In the summer of 2020, death engulfed Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Delia Ramos recalls the eerie prevalence of freezer trucks lining hospital parking lots to store the bodies, as a novel virus battered the mostly Hispanic region. When her husband Ricardo eventually fell ill, he entered the hospital alone, and she never got to see him again. The demand for services for the dead was so high, she had to place her name on a waiting list to have him cremated. (Langford and Schumacher, 5/1)

Receiving an influenza vaccine with or without a co-administered COVID-19 vaccine was associated with a small and temporary—but meaningful—change in the menstrual cycles of regularly menstruating women, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. The study was based on data collected from an English-language digital birth control app used globally. (Soucheray, 4/30)

The Trump administration has cancelled federal participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep, STAT and the Medill News Service have learned. (Belkoura, 4/30)

The Education Department is cutting approximately $1 billion worth of federal mental health grants approved by Congress in the wake of a 2022 Texas elementary school mass shooting. The agency concluded the funding conflicts with Trump administration priorities. The department’s decision, announced by an agency official late Tuesday in a written notice obtained by POLITICO, centers on grants included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that were meant to help states and higher education institutions train mental health professionals who could then work in local schools. (Perez Jr., 4/30)

In a significant move, the National Institutes for Health said it would reduce its reliance on animals in federally funded research and instead prioritize investment in human-based alternatives, the second time this month that a key government agency has taken such a step. (Silverman, 4/30)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Federal Cuts Gut Food Banks As They Face Record Demand

Food bank shortages caused by high demand and cuts to federal aid programs have some residents of a small community that straddles Idaho and Nevada growing their own food to get by. For those living in Duck Valley, a reservation of about 1,000 people that is home to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, there’s just one grocery store where prices are too high for many to afford, said Brandy Bull Chief, local director of a federal food distribution program for tribes. The next-closest grocery stores are more than 100 miles away in Mountain Home, Idaho, and Elko, Nevada. And the local food bank’s troubles are mirrored by many nationwide, squeezed between growing need and shrinking aid. (Orozco Rodriguez, 5/1)

The Trump administration's executive order to suspend funds intended to prevent and treat HIV in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will result in 60,000 to 74,000 excess deaths over the next 5 years—and possibly many more—a mathematical modeling study published late last week in eClinicalMedicine forecasts. On January 24, 2025, the US government froze all foreign aid programs, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), for 90 days. (Van Beusekom, 4/28)

The opening months of President Donald Trump’s second term in office have brought a clear paradigm shift across healthcare—both inside and outside of the federal government. Since his opening salvo of executive orders, the president and his administration have been pushing to overhaul the funding and oversight of care delivery. Mainstay health programs have been on the chopping block, international collaborations have been severed, public health research priorities have been shifted and non-government organizations supporting politically contentious services or practices have been outright targeted. (Muoio, Tong, Beavins, Gliadkovskaya and Minemyer, 4/30)

A new Trump administration executive order targeting the use of “DEI-based standards” to accredit universities could shake up the small club of groups that set standards for the nation’s medical schools and residency programs. (McFarling, 5/1)

Some international doctors are skipping medical conferences in the U.S. this year out of concern over the Trump administration's treatment of foreign visitors at the country's borders. While none of the American medical associations contacted by MedPage Today reported a major dip in conference attendance this year so far, at least one doctor in the U.K. suspects that fewer international physicians will attend the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in late May. (4/30)

Hospitals across the country are starting to reckon with the effects President Trump's tariffs are having on medical supplies like syringes and PPE, and in some cases freezing spending and making other contingencies. (Reed, 5/1)

When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the government’s new autism findings this month, he painted a grim and highly controversial picture: Not only was autism becoming more prevalent, he said, but “most cases now are severe.” The notion that severe symptoms are becoming more common isn’t substantiated by scientific evidence. Rather, new research being announced this week at the annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research in Seattle suggests that the share of autism cases with moderate or significant symptoms remained relatively consistent from 2000 to 2016. (Bendix, 4/30)

As the Trump administration lays out ambitious plans to address autism, many longtime leaders and well-known experts in the field have been left out, stakeholders indicate. National autism advocacy groups and top researchers tell Disability Scoop that they have not had any contact with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee — a panel comprised of government officials and members of the autism community tasked with coordinating federal autism efforts — has not met since January. (Diament, 5/1)

RFK Jr’s focus on autism sparks fear among autistic people, who say they are being dehumanized and seen as not valued members of society. (Morris, 5/1)

When Dr. Amy Van Hecke picked up the phone on April 24, she was surprised to learn of a parent who wanted to discontinue a planned evaluation of their child's autism. Losing a spot on the waiting list ― which can sometimes stretch years ― risks setting the treatment of a child back significantly, Van Hecke said. Another call came into Van Hecke's clinic with a separate but related request: a family wanted their medical records destroyed. (Eilbert, 5/1)

After decades of navigating various mental and physical health struggles, three Vermonters sought out an autism diagnosis for themselves in their late 40s and 50s. (Williams Engisch, 4/30)

Wednesday marked the last day of Autism Awareness Month, and in Northwest Indiana, a tiny tool is providing huge relief to parents of children with autism who may be prone to wandering off. Several local fire and police departments are signed up for a program called Project Lifesaver. The program involves distribution of a purple plastic device on a wristband, which looks like a watch — but does not tell time. It reveals location. A first responder carries a transmitter to track the device. (Victory, 4/30)

A growing body of research suggests that neurobiological changes, particularly abnormalities in dendritic spines, tiny protrusions on nerve cells where synapses form, may be a hallmark of ASD. In particular, studies have found an unusually high number of these spines in individuals with autism. This overabundance of synaptic connections could disrupt normal communication pathways in the brain, potentially contributing to the behavioral and cognitive features seen in ASD. (4/30)

Diabetes deaths in the U.S. have fallen to some of the lowest rates in years, according to new preliminary figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reversing a surge in mortality that was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 26.4 deaths per 100,000 people from diabetes, according to early death certificate data for the third quarter of 2024 published this month by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. (Tin, 4/30)

While the incidence of breast cancer in young women has been increasing over the last 20 years, breast cancer deaths in this age group fell significantly between 2010 and 2020, researchers found. Among women ages 20 to 49, incidence-based mortality declined from 9.70 per 100,000 women in 2010 to 1.47 per 100,000 in 2020, reported Adetunji Toriola, MD, PhD, MPH, of the Siteman Cancer Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Chicago. (Bassett, 4/30)

The active ingredient in the popular weight loss drug Wegovy may help treat a type of fatty liver disease, according to new research. The disease, known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), occurs where fat builds up in the liver, leading to inflammation, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (Chang, 4/30)

The era of “tranq” may be ending. But tranq, as the powerful veterinary tranquilizer xylazine is known in the illicit drug supply, is being replaced at least in part by a dangerous new sedative: medetomidine. (Facher, 5/1)

Dr. Google is often on call for worried patients, but it may not give the best advice. Doctors say internet searches for medical information should be done cautiously, especially with artificial intelligence playing a growing role. Information from the right websites can teach patients about symptoms and prepare them for a doctor’s visit. But a poorly done search might inflame anxiety well before someone reaches the waiting room. It’s important to know the source of the information you find and to avoid trying to diagnose your health issue. (Murphy, 4/30)

The happiness curve is collapsing. For decades, research showed that the way people experienced happiness across their lifetimes looked like a U-shaped curve. Happiness tended to be high when they were young, then dipped in midlife, only to rise again as they grew old. But recent surveys suggest that young adults aren’t as happy as they used to be, and that U-shaped curve is starting to flatten. (Caron, 4/30)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 1 in 5 workers were 55 or older in 2023. In that same year, 15 percent of workers were between 55 and 64, and about 7 percent were 65 or older. ... Nearly 80 percent of older workers said they are still working because they need the paycheck or because they want to keep building their retirement savings, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. A recent survey from insurance company Allianz Life found 64 percent of Americans worry more about running out of money than they do about dying. (Perkins and Prann, 4/30)

Reinstating a statewide abortion ban is possibly one vote away from going before voters. Members of the Senate Families, Seniors and Health Committee voted 4-2 on party lines on Wednesday to advance a resolution on the ban. The passage of the resolution, HJR 73, came after almost two hours of testimony from the public. The resolution, which would need voter approval, effectively reinstates Missouri’s prior abortion ban, with some exceptions. (Kellogg, 4/30)

An organization that helps youth with abortion and birth decisions filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to strike down Missouri regulations that make it difficult for minors to obtain an abortion. (Munz, 4/30)

An outside investigation found that last year’s leak of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s order accepting a case challenging the state’s 1849 abortion law was “likely deliberate,” but was unable to determine its source. ... Despite the inconclusive findings, the report includes a number of recommendations for improving the Supreme Court’s security.  (Redman, 4/30)

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in 2022, the legal status of abortion was left up to individual states to decide. Since then, Wisconsin doctors have had to interpret and follow the state’s 19th century law that effectively bans abortion in the state. But according to a new study, hospitals across Wisconsin interpret the law differently. (Rogers, 4/30)

It’s been a year since Florida enacted its six-week abortion ban, one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. Since then, reproductive healthcare providers, patients and advocacy groups have grappled with its far-reaching effects. Data from the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration shows a steep drop in procedures: 64,854 abortions were recorded in 2024, mostly in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. So far in 2025, just 8,682 procedures have been reported year-to-date. (4/30)

Earthside Birth and Wellness Center in Cheyenne is Wyoming’s first freestanding birth center. Last month, they received a national certification from the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers (CABC).The center is based on the Midwifery Task Force’s woman-centered midwives model of care. Earthside works with low-risk clients who want to give birth outside of a hospital setting. It offers prenatal and postpartum care, birth services and lactation classes. (Khera, 4/30)

Within his first month in office, Trump acted quickly on a number of issues related to reproductive health. He pardoned several anti-abortion protesters convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law intended to protect abortion clinics and patients by barring people from physically blocking or threatening patients. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said it would be curtailing prosecutions against people accused of violating the FACE Act. The Department of Defense rescinded a Biden-era policy that helped facilitate travel for active service members and their families to obtain certain reproductive health care services, including abortion. Internationally, the Trump Administration’s freeze on foreign aid halted reproductive health care services for millions of people. Trump also reinstated what’s known as the Mexico City Policy or the Global Gag Rule, a policy often implemented by Republican presidents that prohibits foreign organizations receiving U.S. aid from providing or discussing abortion care. (Lee, 4/30)

Just 4% of adults on the fence about parenthood say a $5,000 incentive would sway them, per a new BabyCenter poll shared with Axios. The Trump administration has reportedly discussed a $5,000 "baby bonus" to boost birth rates — but that amount doesn't stretch much beyond Day 1 of a newborn's life. 9% of respondents said it would take at least $10,000 to convince them to have kids, and 30% said it would take more than $25,000 — of the nearly 700 votes cast in a BabyCenter poll. (Mallenbaum, 4/30)

Avalon, Calif.-based Catalina Island Health received $3 million in one-time funding to help keep its doors open. Catalina Island Health is the island’s only source of emergency medical care for residents, workers and more than 1 million annual visitors, according to an April 8 news release from Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office. The hospital faces serious financial challenges with insolvency predicted as early as July, according to the release. (Cass, 4/30)

Up to 20,000 unionized health care workers are poised to strike at all UC campuses and medical centers Thursday, the third such strike this year over what the unions say are unfair labor practices by UC. Locally, the strike, led by UPTE-CWA Local 9119 and AFSCME Local 3299, is slated to take place 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at UCSF Mission Bay campus, and will include workers from Parnassus, St. Francis and St. Mary’s hospitals. Picketing is also planned at the UC Berkeley entrance at Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way. (Ho, 4/30)

California Representative Kevin Kiley has called for an investigation after the state's handling of sensitive health information came under scrutiny following a report that data entered by residents on the state's health insurance marketplace was shared with LinkedIn. In a letter exclusively shared with Newsweek, the Republican asked the Department of Health and Human Services to launch an investigation into the issue "due to Covered California's blatant disregard for privacy and the law." "This is incredibly disturbing," Kiley also wrote on X, formerly Twitter. (Laws, 4/30)

A new report from the California Department of Justice finds that immigration detention facilities across the state continue to fall short in providing basic mental health care, with gaps in suicide prevention and treatment, recordkeeping, and use of force incidents against mentally ill detainees. (Fry, 4/29)

Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed a 39-year-old man has died from a carfentanil overdose. County health officials said he was found with counterfeit pills that were made to look like prescription oxycodone. "Using drugs alone increases the risk of death. We urge people to avoid the dangers of opioids, especially fake pills that may contain carfentanil or fentanyl," said Dr. Michelle Jorden, Chief Medical Examiner and Neuropathologist in the Office of the Medical Examiner. "Fake pills look real, but they can be deadly. People should not take any pill that they did not buy from the pharmacy."  (Corry, 4/30)

A tax on sugary drinks takes effect Thursday in the beachside community of Santa Cruz, seven years after California banned its cities and counties from implementing local grocery taxes as part of a reluctant deal with the powerful beverage industry. The 2-cent-per-ounce tax, approved by voters in November, is the first in the state since lawmakers approved the 2018 deal. The American Beverage Association spent heavily to campaign against the ballot measure in the small city of 60,000, and in court called the tax illegal and likely to strain city resources. (Har, 5/1)

An innovative colorectal cancer screening program at Kaiser Permanente Northern California has significantly reduced cancer rates and deaths, according to a new study by Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Northern California. The program mails at-home fecal tests to patients yearly — a convenient, noninvasive part of a screening protocol that also includes other, less frequent routine tests like colonoscopies. (Ho, 4/30)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: California’s Primary Care Shortage Persists Despite Ambitious Moves To Close Gap

Sumana Reddy, a primary care physician, struggles on thin financial margins to run Acacia Family Medical Group, the small independent practice she founded 27 years ago in Salinas, a predominantly Latino city in an agricultural valley often called “the salad bowl of the world.” Reddy can’t match the salaries offered by larger health systems — a difficulty compounded by a widespread shortage of primary care doctors. (Wolfson and Sánchez, 5/1)

Delaware County's delegation of state lawmakers is asking the Pennsylvania attorney general to consider bringing criminal charges against Prospect Medical Holdings for closing the Crozer Health system. In a letter to Attorney General Dave Sunday, a group of state lawmakers requested that the attorney general open a criminal investigation into the California-based private health care company. (Holden, Kuhn, Wright and Specht, 4/30)

Physician staffing company Envision Healthcare has entered a transition agreement with Radiology Partners as it moves to exit the imaging business. Radiology Partners would take over operations at an estimated 95 Envision imaging sites and onboard up to 400 radiologists. A specific timeline was not disclosed, but the transition is expected to occur throughout the rest of the year, according to a Wednesday news release. (DeSilva, 4/30)

Despite the poor financial performance of BetterHelp, whose revenue fell by 11% in Q1, Teladoc has grown its investment in virtual mental healthcare by acquiring UpLift in a $30 million all-cash transaction. The deal closed on April 30, the same day as Teladoc’s first quarter 2025 earnings call. The company fared worse than Wall Street expected in Q1, posting a net loss of $93 million, or $0.53 lost per share. Wall Street Analysts expected the company share price to decrease by $0.33. (Beavins, 4/30)

Two Chairs is adding psychiatry services as it tries to stand out in a crowded virtual mental therapy market, the company said Wednesday. The company is launching its psychiatry services in Florida, but it will expand to more markets over time, said Two Chairs founder and CEO Alex Katz. The company, which offers therapy in 22 states, aims to bring therapy, psychiatry, care navigation and primary care collaboration into one experience for its patients and health plan customers, Katz said. (Perna, 4/30)

Epic added to its electronic health record market share lead last year, according to a report published Wednesday from market research firm KLAS. The Verona, Wisconsin-based EHR company made significant gains among acute care hospitals while its rival Oracle Health lost a sizable number of customers. Epic grew its market share to 42% of acute care hospitals and 55% of acute care beds by the end of 2024, up from 39% of acute care hospitals and 52% of beds in 2023, according to KLAS. (Turner, 4/30)

Coppin State University announced Wednesday that it received a $6.22 million investment from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to expand its health services and education. The investment, the largest philanthropic gift Coppin State has ever received, is aimed at renovating and expanding the university’s health center, as well as building up its healthcare education and scholarship programs. (Schumer, 5/1)

The Leapfrog Group is out with its biannual report card on hospitals' safety and qualify efforts, and it's clear that providers' use of artificial intelligence and other technology tools is helping boost grades. The nonprofit healthcare watchdog organization grades hospitals on areas including infection rates, hand hygiene and medication safety. Its survey also looks at how hospitals use technology and if it is effective in ensuring patient safety. (DeSilva, 4/30)

Post-COVID symptoms, prevalence, and time to resolution are different from those seen after flu or pneumonia, better characterizing long COVID, University of Texas investigators say. The study team analyzed health claims data from Medicare Advantage–covered and commercially insured US adults diagnosed as having symptomatic COVID-19 in 2020 (121,205 patients) and similar groups with flu (20,844) and pneumonia (29,052) diagnosed before the pandemic. Symptoms were evaluated 1, 3, and 6 months after post-diagnosis. (Van Beusekom, 4/30)

A personalized inhaled bacteriophage therapy showed promising results in a small study of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with drug-resistant pulmonary infections, researchers reported yesterday in Nature Medicine. The study, led by researchers at Yale University's Center for Phage Biology and Therapy, enrolled nine adults with CF who were selected for treatment on a compassionate use basis because they had multidrug- and pan–drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections that were no longer responding to standard antibiotic therapies. (Dall, 4/30)

Scientists have discovered that the same device used to measure C-reactive protein (CRP) in blood to diagnose bacterial meningitis is also sensitive enough to measure it in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which can speed accurate diagnosis and treatment of the life-threatening illness, according to a study published yesterday in The Lancet Regional Health Europe. (Van Beusekom, 4/30)

A new study has identified a specific mode of fat uptake by immune cells within tumors that serves as a metabolic checkpoint against anti-cancer immune responses. (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, 4/28)

Mepolizumab (Nucala) helped prevent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) when added to background triple inhaled therapy among patients with an eosinophilic phenotype, the phase III MATINEE trial showed. (Phend, 4/30)

Prions transmit their abnormally folded shape onto other proteins. Researchers designed a synthetic fragment of the tau protein that exhibits prion-like behavior. Misfolded tau proteins are the hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Study revealed crucial role of water organization in the tau misfolding process. (Northwestern University, 4/28)

As a professor of physiology, I study how scientific evidence gets translated, sometimes clumsily, from the lab to real life. Whether it’s scaling dietary supplements to humans or using biomimicry to mitigate sports concussion, my work often centers on the fine line between meaningful evidence and misleading extrapolation. That’s why I was immediately skeptical when the Food and Drug Administration announced its decision to ban synthetic food dyes like the controversial red dye No. 3. (James Smoliga, 5/1)

Congressional Republicans are trying to figure out what to do with Medicaid. Nearly 80 million Americans get health coverage through the entitlement. In California, one in three residents has Medi-Cal, the Golden State’s version of Medicaid. (Sally C. Pipes, 4/29)

The Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, which operated from 1848 to 2014, is remembered as an emblem of America’s shameful warehousing and abuse of the disabled. In the mid-20th century, resources at the school were few, buildings were crumbling, and abuse and neglect were rampant. In 1993, this newspaper discovered that, from 1946 to 1953, as part of a study led by Harvard and MIT and with the participation of Quaker Oats, 74 boys ages 10 to 17 at the Fernald were fed radioactive isotopes in their oatmeal. (Oliver Egger, 4/29)

The recent news that the NIH will require universities to certify their diversity programs comply with federal civil rights law created understandable anxiety in the academic community. The confusion is partly due to coverage that suggested NIH is terminating support for any universities that operate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. But reading the actual NIH notice carefully provides clarity — and perhaps some reassurance. (Michael A. Yassa, 5/1)

The Trump administration's health initiative is centered on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" message. That focus on wholesome foods, drug safety, and eliminating corruption in pharmaceuticals and the food industry has justifiably captured public enthusiasm. But now is also a singular moment for the most disruptive leader in political history, President Donald J. Trump, to use his business acumen and common sense to fix America's health care system. Instilling market incentives in health care through strategic deregulation would be this president's greatest opportunity to help low-income Americans. (Scott W. Atlas, 4/30)