Category: Politics
Online harassment is silencing Canada’s health experts — institutions need to do more to protect them
While academics should be comfortable having their ideas challenged, technology-facilitated harassment is very different. Online harassment is often linked with other forms of targeted abuse and includes acts of doxxing, reputation attacks or threatening and sexualized messaging, among others.
SNAP DISRUPTIONS EXPECTED TO DRIVE DEMAND AT KING COUNTY FOOD PANTRIES
Food pantries welcome food donations, but cash donations are far more impactful.
Racial health disparities could widen as states grapple with Trump cuts, experts warn
As part of its federal restructuring and crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the Trump administration has been shuttering federal offices and rescinding grants dedicated to addressing worse health care access and outcomes for racial minorities.
Shutdown leaves gaps in states’ health data, possibly endangering lives
The pause leaves states with less early warning on disease outbreaks, potentially endangering lives even as child vaccination rates drop amid increased exemptions and hesitancy fed by misinformation. State and local officials can combat outbreaks with targeted advice to get vaccinated and stay home when sick, but they need to know where to do that first. And residents won’t know to take precautions if they’re unaware when many in their community are falling ill.
Trump’s new $100K visa fee could worsen state doctor shortages, experts say
Rural communities have long struggled to recruit and retain doctors. Many rural hospitals are struggling financially, and have had to eliminate services or even shut down. The shortage of providers is critical in rural communities that tend to have higher rates of chronic illness and early death compared with their urban counterparts.
Many immigrant physicians help fill those gaps thanks in part to the H-1B visa, which allows skilled foreign workers to come work in the U.S.
Rural Health Transformation Program Won’t Make Up for Federal Budget Cuts, Experts Agree
A new program touted to give $50 billion in federal funding to rural hospitals won’t necessarily keep rural hospitals from closing, according to several experts in rural health.
More states protect access to the COVID shot as feds restrict eligibility
For decades, states have followed the lead of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on which vaccines Americans should get, and when they should get them. Now, rejecting the antivaccine stance of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an increasing number of states say they will rely instead on their own public health experts and professional medical organizations for that advice.
What does Florida’s decision to end vaccine mandates mean for the US and other countries?
And the damage won’t be limited to Florida. Mobile Americans will spread disease to other states and other countries. Even a visit to Disney World will come with increased risks.
How RFK Jr.’s misguided science on mRNA vaccines is shaping policy − a UW vaccine expert examines the false claims
As a vaccinologist who has studied and developed vaccines for over 35 years, I see that the science behind mRNA vaccine technology is being widely misstated. This incorrect information is shaping long-term health policy in the U.S. – which makes it urgent to correct the record. – Deborah Fuller, University of Washington
Trump’s new law will limit payments to hospitals that treat low-income patients
President Donald Trump’s new tax and spending law will likely force more than half the states to reduce payments to doctors and hospitals that treat Medicaid patients, a change critics warn will be particularly harmful to rural hospitals struggling to stay afloat.
As Florida plans to end all vaccine mandates, Western states form vaccine alliance
The contrasting moves come amid turmoil at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where several top leaders resigned last week to protest efforts by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to dismiss CDC Director Susan Monarez for pushing back against Kennedy’s vaccine policies.
At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn
HHS Director Robert F. Kennedy, Jrs’ move to put his stamp on the CDC means states that have long relied on the agency’s expertise and help in crises such as disease outbreaks will largely be left to fend for themselves
Washington, California and Oregon to offer independent immunization recommendations
In response to recent federal actions that have undermined the independence of the CDC and raised concerns about the politicization of science, Washington, California and Oregon Washington are beginning the process to provide evidence-based unified recommendations to their residents regarding who should receive immunizations and to help ensure the public has access and credible information for confidence in vaccine safety and efficacy.
As Measles Exploded, Officials in Texas Looked to CDC Scientists. Under Trump, No One Answered.
“CDC hasn’t reached out to us locally,” Katherine Wells, the public health director in Lubbock, Texas, wrote in a Feb. 5 email exchange with a colleague two weeks after children with measles were hospitalized in Lubbock. “My staff feels like we are out here all alone,” she added.
How stripping diversity, equity and inclusion from health care may make Americans sicker
The Trump administration’s funding cuts will most directly affect the health of members of marginalized groups, including, but not limited to, people of color, women and people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and transgender.