- Schools
California Files Lawsuit to Protect COVID-19 School Funding: California sued Thursday to block the Trump administration from taking back more than $200 million in federal funding intended to support the academic recovery of students whose education was disrupted by the covid pandemic. Part of that funding is used to support student mental health services. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
- Vaccines
CapRadio: Children's Vaccine Program Halted Suddenly Due to Trump Administration Funding Cuts
In late March, the Trump administration suddenly pulled $11.4 billion in remaining COVID-19 response funds — which were going to state and local governments to help monitor and prevent a variety of diseases. That complicated local efforts to immunize kids. The California Department of Public Health estimates that the lost federal funds will total at least $840 million in the state. (Myscofski, 4/10)
Stat: Health Secretary RFK Jr. Claims Some Vaccines Have ‘Never Worked,’ Leaving Scientists Baffled
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed another unorthodox view on vaccines, with the long-time vaccine critic declaring that vaccines for respiratory bugs that target a sole part of the pathogen they are meant to protect against do not work. (Branswell, 4/10)
Vaccine Clinics Canceled Due to Federal Funding Cuts as Measles Cases Rise
Federal funding cuts, though temporarily blocked by a judge, have upended vaccination clinics across the country, including in Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, and Washington state, amid a rise in vaccine hesitancy and a resurgence of measles. (Bram Sable-Smith and Arielle Zionts and Jackie Fortiér, 4/9)
- Federal Budget
Modern Healthcare: Congress Approves Budget, Paving the Way for Major Healthcare Cuts
Congress paved the way for deep cuts in healthcare spending as part of an effort to extend expiring tax cuts on Thursday. The House voted 216-214 to adopt the final version of the fiscal 2026 budget resolution, with GOP Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.) joining the Democratic minority in opposition. This followed a Senate vote to approve the budget on Monday and a House vote in February on the lower chamber's first draft of the measure. (McAuliff, 4/10)
- LGBTQ+ Health
KVPR: White House Directs NIH to Study Trans ‘Regret’ and ‘Detransition’
The Trump administration has ordered the National Institutes of Health to study the physical and mental health effects of undergoing gender transition, including regret. The research comes at a time when the administration has cut hundreds of grants for research into health issues affecting the LGBTQ community. (Stein, 4/11)
- Children’s Health
MedPage Today: HHS Disbands Advisory Panel on Newborn Screening
As cuts sweep across federal health agencies, the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC) has been terminated. Notably, the ACHDNC, which sits under the Health Resources and Services Administration, is responsible for the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP), a standardized list of dozens of conditions the HHS secretary recommends states screen for as part of their universal newborn screening programs. (Henderson, 4/10)
The Guardian: Study Finds ADHD Medication Benefits Outweigh Potential Health Risks The benefits of taking drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder outweigh the impact of increases in blood pressure and heart rate, according to a new study. An international team of researchers led by scientists from the University of Southampton found the majority of children taking ADHD medication experienced small increases in blood pressure and pulse rates, but that the drugs had “overall small effects”. They said the study’s findings highlighted the need for “careful monitoring”. (Topping, 4/6)
- Administration Changes
MedPage Today: CDC Cuts Nearly Half of Staff Focused on Birth Defects and Disabilities
More than 40% of the 225 scientists and public health workers at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) were put on administrative leave earlier this month as part of the Trump administration's reduction-in-force (RIF) initiative. A source told MedPage Today the cuts completely eliminated the staff in the Division of Blood Disorders and Public Health Genomics, which performed research on conditions such as hemophilia, sickle cell disease, and many other conditions impacting blood. (Clark, 4/10)
KFF Health News: Trump HHS Shuts Down Office That Determines Poverty Guidelines Linked to Benefits for 80 Million President Donald Trump’s firings at the Department of Health and Human Services included the entire office that sets federal poverty guidelines, which determine whether tens of millions of Americans are eligible for health programs such as Medicaid, food assistance, child care, and other services, former staff said. The small team, with technical data expertise, worked out of HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, or ASPE. (Allen, 4/11)
Impact of HHS Layoffs on Public Health Programs A critical laboratory for surveilling sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the U.S. has been lost in the Trump administration's mass layoffs. All 28 full-time employees, along with 10 fellows, were cut from the CDC's STD Laboratory Reference and Research Branch, which is housed in the agency's Division of STD Prevention. One of its most remarkable projects is a one-of-its-kind repository of 50,000 isolates of gonorrhea used to monitor antibiotic resistance, which is quickly becoming a global health concern. (Fiore, 4/10)
- Fluoride in Drinking Water
KVPR: HHS to Reevaluate Guidelines on Fluoride Addition to Drinking Water
The Department of Health and Human Services is directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make new recommendations on the addition of fluoride to U.S. water sources. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blamed the fluoridation of water for a number of health problems. The agency is directing the CDC to reconvene an independent panel of 15 health experts to examine the role fluoride plays in water sources and whether it can be detrimental to public health, Kennedy told The Associated Press earlier this week, and NPR has confirmed. (Wise, 4/10)
The New York Times: Kennedy Urges States to Prohibit Fluoridated Drinking Water
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kicked off a tour through southwestern states on Monday by calling on states to ban fluoride in drinking water supplies, a move that would reverse what some medical experts consider one of the most important public health practices in the country’s history. The announcement came at a news conference in Utah, the first state to enact such a ban into law. The state’s new law is set to take effect in early May, despite concerns from public health experts who consider fluoridation of water core to preventing tooth decay. (Baumgaertner Nunn, 4/7)
- Autism
ABC News: RFK Jr. Promises a Solution to the 'Autism Epidemic' by September Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a significant commitment at Thursday's Cabinet meeting at the White House, saying that his agency will "know what has caused the autism epidemic" by September. Kennedy said that HHS had launched, at President Donald Trump's direction, a large research effort involving "hundreds of scientists from around the world" to look into the rising rates of autism diagnoses. (Haslett, 4/11)
- Measles
ProPublica: "Not Just Measles": Whooping Cough Cases Surge as Vaccine Rates Drop While much of the country is focused on the spiraling measles outbreak concentrated in the small, dusty towns of West Texas, cases of pertussis have skyrocketed by more than 1,500% nationwide since hitting a recent low in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths tied to the disease are also up, hitting 10 last year, compared with about two to four in previous years. Cases are on track to exceed that total this year. (Eldeib and Callahan, 4/11)
The Washington Post: Can Vitamin A Cure Measles? RFK Jr. Suggests It, Leading to Overdoses in Children Some unvaccinated children hospitalized with measles had signs of vitamin A toxicity, a hospital in West Texas said in a late March statement, adding that patient reports said it was being used “for both treatment and prevention of measles.” And in Gaines County, in West Texas, the center of a measles outbreak, there has been a surge in demand for products rich in vitamin A, such as cod liver oil. (Amenabar, 4/7)
- Medicaid
Stateline: One-Fifth of Americans Are on Medicaid—And Many Aren't Aware
Some Americans who rely on Medicaid to pay for their health care don’t realize their insurance is funded by that very program, which congressional Republicans are looking to shrink. One reason is that state programs aren’t always called “Medicaid.” Many states have rebranded their programs with consumer-friendly names such as SoonerCare in Oklahoma, Apple Health in Washington, Medi-Cal in California or TennCare in Tennessee. And nearly all states now use private insurance companies such as UnitedHealth or Blue Cross Blue Shield to run their Medicaid programs. That means Medicaid enrollees may hold an insurance card and paperwork with the name of a commercial insurance company. (Vollers, 4/9)
CalMatters: The Impact of Medicaid Cuts on California's Mental Health System
California under Gov. Gavin Newsom has made sweeping changes to its behavioral health system, pouring billions of dollars into new services and support programs. But the state’s ambitious plans face a looming threat: the proposed federal spending cuts that Congress is currently considering are seen as all but certain to impact Medicaid and could bring to a halt some of the headway the state has made in responding to its behavioral health crisis. (Ibarra, 4/7)
- Women’s Health
Stat: U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Rose by 27% Over Five Years, NIH Study Reveals
A new U.S. government paper documenting an increase in maternal mortality from 2018 to 2022 does not hedge in its conclusion, calling the issue “an urgent public health priority.” That it was published amid massive job and funding cuts at federal health agencies charged with reducing these deaths has not escaped notice. (Oza, 4/9)
The New York Times: Study Finds One-Third of Maternal Deaths Happen Long After Delivery During a recent five-year period, a substantial portion of maternal deaths in America — almost one-third — took place more than six weeks after childbirth, at a time when most new mothers think they are in the clear, researchers reported on Wednesday. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, is one of the first to track maternal health complications during pregnancy and in the year after delivery. (Caryn Rabin, 4/9)
The New York Times: New Study Connects Gestational Diabetes to Increased ADHD Risk in Children Maternal diabetes, a pregnancy complication that can affect up to a third of women globally, is linked with a higher risk of neurodevelopmental issues in children, a large new study found. The study, which was published in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology on Monday, adds to a growing body of evidence that ties maternal diabetes to a range of health complications for both the mother and the child. (Gupta and Agrawal, 4/7)
- Dental Care
CalMatters: Special Needs Dentists Expand CA Clinics with New Grants
Martha Rodriguez spent years searching for a dentist. Several turned her away because she has Down syndrome, and they felt they could not accommodate her. Her plight, “broke my heart,” said Dr. Maxmillian Chambers, an Imperial County dentist who agreed to treat her. Today, she is one of his favorite patients at the Innercare community health clinic in El Centro, and she’s inspiring a new investment in care. (Hwang, 4/9)