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The White House’s budget office ordered government agencies to pause grants and loans on a host of government programs, the latest in a freeze on federal action that has upended health agencies. The internal memo, sent on Monday, explicitly targets gender-affirming care and global financial assistance, citing two of President Trump’s priorities during his campaign and his initial storm of executive orders on Inauguration Day. (Owermohle, 1/27)

The National Institutes of Health’s myriad divisions can start new work on mission-critical research, and continue working on ongoing studies, but cannot publicly communicate about them until the new Trump administration lifts a communications freeze, the acting director said in a memo to leaders of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers on Monday. (Owermohle, 1/27)

A trio of Democrats on Monday called on the Trump administration to restore full operations at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) warning that the halt in the agency’s grant process could cause “disastrous” consequences domestically and abroad. Democratic Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to acting Health and Human Service (HHS) Secretary Dorothy Fink about their concerns regarding disrupted NIH research. (Choi, 1/27)

U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.” Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing global threats. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock. (Stobbe, 1/27)

The US Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that it would return to policies that ensure no federal funds are used to pay for or promote abortions. The news release was the first since the Trump administration placed a temporary freeze last week on some government work and communications on health topics. (Rutherford, 1/27)

The Trump administration placed several dozen senior officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave in response to what an official characterized as resistance to President Trump’s policy. An email on Monday to U.S.A.I.D. staff from the agency’s acting administrator, Jason Gray, said that Trump officials “have identified several actions within U.S.A.I.D. that appear to be designed to circumvent” an executive order. (Crowley and Wong, 1/27)

The Trump administration has instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics. The directive is part of a broader freeze on foreign aid initiated last week. It includes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the global health program started by George W. Bush that is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide. (Mandavilli, 1/27)

President Donald Trump on Monday night issued an executive order targeting transgender service members and an array of other people, saying that the U.S. military has been “afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists” and that “many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty.” The list of conditions identified could affect tens of thousands of people depending on how it is interpreted. It cites diagnoses “that require substantial medication or medical treatment to bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidality, and prior psychiatric hospitalization.” (Lamothe, Ryan and Horton, 1/28)

On his first day back in power, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on gender that essentially states that males become males and females become female “at conception.” But that, medical experts say, is wrong. All fertilized eggs or embryos are filled with both male Y and female X chromosomes, and the gender doesn’t reveal itself until weeks later, they said. And even then, it’s sometimes hard to tell whether it’s a girl, a boy, or a baby with the sexual characteristics of both. (Siemaszko, 1/27)

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, openly gay hedge fund manager Scott Bessent. The nominee was confirmed by vote of 68-29. He will be the second openly gay man to serve in the Cabinet, after Biden-Harris administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and in a Cabinet-level office, after Obama-Biden administration Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis and Trump-Pence administration Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell. (Kane, 1/28)

Service members dismissed from the military for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 will be reinstated with full back pay and benefits under an executive order President Trump is expected to sign Monday. ... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also vowed to reinstate military members dismissed over the COVID-19 shot, saying during his confirmation hearing that those service members “will be apologized to. They will be reinstated, reinstituted with pay and rank.” (Weixel, 1/27)

China on Monday dismissed the possibility that the virus that caused COVID-19 leaked from a lab, after the CIA said it now favors the so-called lab leak theory over natural transmission. “It is extremely unlikely the pandemic was caused by a lab leak,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters. “This has been widely recognized by the international community, including the scientific community,” she said. (Weixel and Beitsch, 1/27)

At least eight large public school districts across the United States have vowed in recent days to try to protect undocumented immigrant students and their families from President Donald Trump's mass deportation push. The Trump administration has removed restrictions that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting raids at so-called sensitive locations, including schools (as well as houses of worship and hospitals). (Edelman and Silva, 1/28)

TV host Dr. Phil shared footage of himself embedded with immigration enforcement officers as they conducted an operation in Chicago on Sunday. Newsweek reached out to the White House, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Dr. Phil's Merit Media for comment via email on Monday. The presence of a celebrity at an ICE operation is highly unusual and could signal the Trump administration's attempt to generate positive PR for its aggressive immigration crackdown. (Shoaib, 1/27)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed openness to adopting a key progressive proposal for lowering drug prices during a closed-door meeting with Senate Finance Committee staffers, according to three people familiar with the exchange, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about private discussions. President Donald Trump’s health secretary nominee last week indicated he’d consider authorizing the government to seize the patents of high-priced medicines from manufacturers and share them with other drug makers as a way to force down costs, said the three people. (Cai and Cancryn, 1/27)

The nation’s leading anti-abortion groups are holding their fire in the battle over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the government’s health agencies, despite harboring serious concerns about his past support for abortion rights. Their reluctance to oppose Kennedy stems in part from the deference the anti-abortion movement feels it owes Trump after he nominated the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and took a slew of anti-abortion actions last week. (Payne and Ollstein, 1/27)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has insisted he doesn’t want to take away vaccines  —  he just wants to make sure they’re safe.   But he has already sketched out a blueprint that could subject recommended vaccines to renewed scrutiny, redirect research, strip legal protections for vaccine makers, and change how vaccines are advertised. (Zhang and Owermohle, 1/28)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: What RFK Jr. Might Face In His Nomination Hearings This Week

President Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer with no formal medical or public health expertise, as secretary of Health and Human Sciences. Two Senate committees will question Kennedy this week on how his disproven views of science and medicine qualify him to run the $1.7 trillion, 80,000-employee federal health system. (Allen, 1/28)

This week, Robert F. Kennedy – Trump’s highly controversial pick to lead public health agencies for the country as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services – faces members of Congress for his confirmation hearings. A new poll shows that less than half of US adults trust Trump and Kennedy to make the right recommendations on health issues, but views are split heavily along partisan lines – particularly regarding attitudes on vaccines, which have become a key concern surrounding Kennedy’s nomination. (McPhillips, 1/28)

Vaccination bills are popping up in more than 15 states as lawmakers aim to potentially resurrect or create new religious exemptions from immunization mandates, establish state-level vaccine injury databases or dictate what providers must tell patients about the shots. Many see a political opportunity to rewrite policies in their states after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s nomination as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. (Haigh and Shastri, 1/27)

A Florida bill has been filed would require foods genetically engineered to contain vaccines “or vaccine material” to be labeled as such. The measure (SB 196), introduced Jan. 13 by Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, would revise the definition of “drug” to includes such edible vaccines. It would deem a drug misbranded “if it is a food containing a vaccine or vaccine material, but its label does not include specified information.” (Mayer, 1/27)

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance tumbled today following a CNBC report that the Deerfield-based pharmacy chain was unlikely to sell itself to a private-equity firm. CNBC’s David Faber said on air this morning that sources say the possible deal in which Walgreens would sell itself to New York-based Sycamore Partners is “mostly dead.” (Davis, 1/27)

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NPCA) is warning the feds that independent pharmacists are likely to face significant financial hardship due to Medicare drug price negotiations. In comments submitted on the latest Medicare advance notice, the organization says it conducted a survey of 8,000 pharmacy owners and managers about the drug price negotiation program and found that 93.2% have either decided not to stock drugs under negotiation or are considering not stocking these products. (Minemyer, 1/28)

GuideWell, the parent company of health insurer Florida Blue, is laying off about 3% of its total workforce, a spokesperson for GuideWell said Monday. The workforce reduction is part of the company’s efforts to streamline operations and address regulatory challenges and rising healthcare costs, the spokesperson said in an email. (Berryman, 1/27)

Bayada Home Health Care CEO David Baiada is charting a different course for the company's growth by concentrating first on its workforce. Instead of focusing on acquisitions, Baiada is looking to boost the nonprofit home care provider's 380 locations by teaming up with Bayada Education to remove workforce obstacles. Mark Baiada, Bayada's founder and chairman, created the nonprofit educational program last year to help develop the workforce during a nursing shortage. (Eastabrook, 1/27)

Cape Coral, population of 224,000, has only one hospital. Founded in 1977 and absorbed into the Lee Health system in 1996, Cape Coral Hospital has been doing what it can to serve the city's needs. (Resto, 1/27)

Clinicians working in advanced heart failure vented their frustrations about the shrinking number of device therapies left from round after round of FDA recalls. Could a changed regulatory climate under the Trump administration bring about more treatment options? The question came up during an audience Q&A session at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)opens in a new tab or window annual meeting. While panelists were generally hesitant to make predictions about politics, Richard Lee, MD, JD, MBA, of Augusta University Medical Center in Georgia, laid out how things could go two ways in the years ahead. (Lou, 1/27)

Two bills that would add conditions to Wyomingites’ access to procedural and medication abortions passed the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Jan. 24. One would cause the closure of Wyoming’s only clinic that provides procedural abortions. The other would require pregnant people to “catch” their fetal tissue following a medication abortion and return the tissue to their physician for disposal. (Clements, 1/27)

Two years ago, a race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court vividly demonstrated how local elections that once flew under the radar were becoming expensive, nationalized and highly partisan affairs. Now, Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin are preparing for yet another contest in April that will again determine control of the state’s top court — and with it the fate of abortion rights, labor rights and two congressional districts. (Epstein, 1/27)

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says his office has settled with the last of the three largest insulin manufacturers following its 2018 lawsuit over unaffordable prices that led several diabetics to ration their medications with fatal consequences. Ellison says the agreement requires Denmark-based manufacturer Novo Nordisk to cap monthly out-of-pocket payments for insulin at $35 a month for the next five years, even for people without health insurance. (Swanson, 1/27)

A new Minnesota Department of Human Services report is proposing changes to improve health gaps American Indian communities in Minnesota face. The Pathways to Racial Equity in Medicaid: Improving the Health and Opportunity of American Indians in Minnesota report calls for investing in traditional healing practices and redefining health and well-being to align with indigenous values. (Lentz, 1/27)

At least 40 Native American residents of sober living homes and treatment facilities in the Phoenix area died as state Medicaid officials struggled to respond to a massive fraud scheme that targeted Indigenous people with addictions. The deaths, almost all from drug and alcohol use, span from the spring of 2022 to the summer of 2024, according to a review of records from the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner. Over half died as officials ignored calls to address lax oversight later shown to have contributed to thousands of patients being recruited into sham treatment programs. (Hudetz and Bassett, 1/27)

Denver Health unveiled a no-cost naloxone vending machine on its hospital campus on Monday. The vending machine distributes the life-saving drug naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan, free of charge. Denver Health unveiled a no-cost naloxone vending machine on the hospital campus. It's available to the community through the National Institute of Drug Abuse's VEnding machine Naloxone Distribution in Your community, or VENDY, program. (McRae, 1/27)  

Last November, Kerwin Pittman drove hours to Peachland, North Carolina — a town in Anson County — to buy a bus. On the drive back to Raleigh, he said, he was just hoping it wouldn’t break down. After all, he had a big dream for it. Three months later, he has transformed the once “old and dusty” bus into the state’s first Mobile Recidivism Reduction Center. (Crumpler, 1/28)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Schools Aren’t As Plugged In As They Should Be To Kids’ Diabetes Tech, Parents Say

Just a few years ago, children with Type 1 diabetes reported to the school nurse several times a day to get a finger pricked to check whether their blood sugar was dangerously high or low. The introduction of the continuous glucose monitor (CGM) made that unnecessary. The small device, typically attached to the arm, has a sensor under the skin that sends readings to an app on a phone or other wireless device. The app shows blood sugar levels at a glance and sounds an alarm when they move out of a normal range. (Galewitz, 1/28)

A tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in Kansas City has become the largest documented TB outbreak on record in the United States. Data on the outbreak from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) show that 67 active TB cases and 79 latent cases have been reported since the beginning of 2024 in Wyandotte and Johnson counties, which are part of the greater Kansas City area. Most of the cases have been in Wyandotte County. KDHE says it has been working with local health departments in response to the outbreak and is following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure patients are receiving proper treatment. (Dall, 1/27)

A rare strain of bird flu, H5N9, has been detected on a duck farm in California’s Merced County, marking the first confirmed case of this virus in U.S. poultry. The World Organization for Animal Health reported the outbreak on Monday, also noting that the more common H5N1 strain was present at the same farm. In response, nearly 119,000 birds were culled to prevent the virus from spreading. “This is the first confirmed case of HPAI H5N9 in poultry in the United States,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated in a report. (Vaziri, 1/27)

Flu expert says bird flu virus may be spread by infected feces blowing in the wind. Dr. Michael Osterholm is a medical detective and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CIDRAP, at the University of Minnesota. Osterholm has nearly 50 years of investigating infectious disease outbreaks and public health threats. (Lofgren, 1/27)

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rolled out a strategy to help prevent outbreaks of enteric (intestinal) viruses such as hepatitis A and norovirus linked to fresh and frozen berries. "While no enteric virus outbreaks associated with domestic berries have been reported in 35 years, there have been reported outbreaks linked to imported fresh and frozen berries," the FDA said in a news release. (Van Beusekom, 1/27)

Rates of sudden unexpected infant death in the United States increased by nearly 12 percent from 2020 to 2022, according to new research published on Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Though the study offered some good news — overall infant mortality rates dropped by 24 percent from 1999 to 2022 — it also raised questions about why more babies appear to be dying during sleep, and why rates of sleep-related death remain notably higher among Black, Native American and Pacific Islander babies than among white and Asian infants. (Pearson, 1/27)

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois is set to try again on a bill to make air travel easier for breastfeeding parents that has gotten bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress and has passed the U.S. Senate. Duckworth on Monday is reintroducing The BABES Enhancement Act with Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, a Democrat, and Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Steve Daines of Montana. The bill aims to ensure that breastfeeding parents can bring breast milk and breastfeeding supplies through airport security without delays or risks of contamination. (Panetta, 1/27)

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, according to a new report. The American Heart Association (AHA) report, published Monday in the journal Circulation, found that 941,652 Americans died from cardiovascular disease in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. That's an increase of more than 10,000 from the just over 931,500 reported to have died from cardiovascular disease in 2021. (Kekatos, 1/27)

An Alabama woman passed a major milestone Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant – healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting. ... Looney’s vibrant recovery is a morale boost in the quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality. Only four other Americans have received hugely experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs – two hearts and two kidneys – and none lived more than two months. (Neergaard, 1/25)

In 2020, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages caused an estimated 2.2 million new cases of Type 2 diabetes globally, according to new research published in Nature Medicine. In the study, researchers assessed data from 184 countries to estimate global cases of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease attributable to sugar-sweetened beverage intake. In addition to cases of Type 2 diabetes, researchers estimated that 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease were caused by drinking such beverages. (Docter-Loeb, 1/27)

Right now, patients with obesity and cirrhosis have few treatments for their progressive liver disease, but a new study offers one available option: bariatric surgery. Weight loss operations significantly cut the long-term risk of developing serious liver complications when compared to standard nonsurgical therapy. (Cooney, 1/27)

A small but growing movement of scientists wants to classify aging as a disease. They face an uphill battle. An improving scientific understanding of the biology of aging is leading some scientists, doctors and entrepreneurs to argue that aging is a disease. It’s a major driver of illness and death, they say, and classifying it as such could make it easier to get drugs approved to treat aging itself, rather than just age-related health problems. (Janin, 1/27)

Elon Musk's Neuralink brain-computer interface is now at the forefront of paralysis research, with the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine chosen as the second U.S. site for its clinical trial. The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis has partnered with Neuralink to test a revolutionary device that could allow individuals with paralysis to control external devices using only their thoughts. (Maldonado, 1/27)

Earlier this month, a newer patient came in to see me for a check-up and discussion about her extremely high cholesterol level. In her late 50s with a family history of early-age heart attack, she was in a high-risk group for future stroke and coronary heart disease. When I suggested that a statin drug would help mitigate this risk, she replied with something I’m increasingly hearing from patients: “I’m really not a medicine person.” (Jeffrey Millstein, 1/28)

In the final days of the Biden administration, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a front-of-package food label that is eye-catching and informative and would help consumers make better decisions about what they eat. The Trump administration should embrace it as an opening salvo for its “Make America Healthy Again” initiative to reduce obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. (Leana S. Wen, 1/28)

Jim Richards doesn’t look like a mad scientist and his plant-based milk made from macadamia nuts tastes delicious. Yet his carefully crafted product is one of many in the grocery store that can fall under the dubious heading of “ultraprocessed.” (1/27)

Plastic turf contains hazardous chemicals, bio-accumulative “forever” chemicals (PFAS) and heavy metals linked to endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Children are especially vulnerable to these toxins, which they can absorb through skin contact, inhalation or ingestion. Moreover, industry claims of “safe” new turf products tend to lack comprehensive testing for biological and environmental harm. (Otto Lee and Cindy Russell, 1/26)

In the public debate over Medicaid expansion in Kansas, a critical fact often gets lost: Large numbers of our state’s residents already depend on the program. What’s more, despite racist stereotypes, those benefiting from the program live mostly in rural areas. (Clay Wirestone, 1/27)

We were astonished to see Phil McGraw, a man who uses a sobriquet that includes the word “doctor,” embedding himself with ICE, a questionable move in and of itself for a person who has claimed to heal, and then literally shining a spotlight on a Thai national who was rounded up by ICE on Sunday in Chicago. Dr. Phil’s quarry told him he recognized him from TV and then took part, consciously or not, in his own ritual humiliation for a hungry TV audience. (1/27)