WASHINGTON — Vaccine policy has become a key issue for the Trump administration, especially under the leadership of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who himself once led an anti-vaccine group. In less than a year, Kennedy has bulldozed vaccine policy precedent and government personnel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food…
WASHINGTON — A possible Trump administration effort to change the childhood vaccine schedule left hospital leaders, health policymakers, and pediatricians scrambling to navigate what could be the most significant changes to the American vaccine program in decades. The administration had planned to announce on Friday moves to pare down the number of shots on the…
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is in a precarious position as it heads toward 2026. The agency has been mired by high-profile departures, feuds between top leaders, accusations of politicization, and low morale. It has lost thousands of employees to layoffs and resignations and cannot seem to hold onto a director of the…
Overturning decades of advice, the CDC has said it no longer recommends that all US newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine, a change that experts say will harm children. The new recommendations will replace the universal birth dose of the shot with “individual decision-making” that will require parents and healthcare providers to “consider vaccine benefits,…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday adopted its vaccine advisory committee’s recommendation to end the decades-old policy that every newborn be offered a hepatitis B shot, despite an outcry from health experts that the decision ignored key evidence around the shots. Instead, parents should discuss with their doctors whether to vaccinate infants at birth…
WASHINGTON — In 2008, Tracy Beth Høeg, then a resident physician and ultramarathon runner, expressed dismay at vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s denial of climate change. “To stare such abundant scientific evidence in the face and make the blanket statement that you don’t believe it,” Høeg wrote in her blog. “What will the future of…
While extensive studies have found Covid-19 vaccines to be safe, effective, and to have saved millions of lives during the pandemic, these shots come with a rare but real risk of inflamed heart muscle, or myocarditis. Scientists on Wednesday reported that they have identified a pair of immune signals they believe drive these cases —…
WASHINGTON — Federal vaccine advisers, through a freewheeling, and at times combative two-day meeting, recommended a major change to childhood vaccinations that runs counter to the medical consensus — and began setting the stage for a larger rethink in the future. The new recommendations and many of the arguments about U.S.vaccination strategies overlook vast bodies…
A panel that advises on U.S. vaccine policy voted on Friday to recommend a delay in when most babies begin to be vaccinated against hepatitis B, overturning a 30-year-old policy that has contributed to a massive decline in cases of the virus. The vote, which followed a day of contentious discussion, was 8-3. Specifically, the…
Damian Garde is a reporter at large, live and feature journalism, covering the global drug industry and contributing to STAT’s industry-leading events. NEW YORK — Vinay Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccines regulator, blamed “misleading media narratives” for the escalating criticism of his leadership amid turmoil and plummeting morale at the agency. Prasad’s…