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Combatting the Measles Threat Means Examining the Reasons for Declining Vaccination Rates
Measles was supposedly eradicated in Canada more than a quarter century ago. But today, measles is surging. The cause of this resurgence is declining vaccination rates.
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Trump’s EPA Plans to Stop Collecting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data From Most Polluters
Climate experts expressed shock and dismay at the move. “It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill,” one said.
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How and Where Is Nuclear waste stored in the U.S.?
Around the U.S., about 90,000 tons of nuclear waste is stored at over 100 sites in 39 states, in a range of different structures and containers. For decades, the nation has been trying to send it all to one secure location. Perhaps there will be a temporary site whose location passes muster with the Supreme Court. But in the meantime, the waste will stay where it is.
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“Not Just Measles”: Whooping Cough Cases Are Soaring as Vaccine Rates Decline
Declining vaccination rates have caused the Texas measles outbreak, and vaccination rates for other childhood diseases have fallen as well. Deep cuts to public health jobs and funding, and HHS’s ambivalent messaging about vaccines, make it harder for agencies to fight outbreaks and prevent disease with vaccines.
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Some Measles Response Plans Crash to a Halt after Trump Cuts
Cities and states fighting a historic measles outbreak find themselves undermined by the Trump administration as they struggle to provide crucial vaccinations and overcome disinformation.
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Public Health Groups Call for Kennedy to Resign or Be Fired as Biomed Sector Airs Concerns
In the wake of dramatic cuts to US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff, cutbacks for state public health efforts, and mixed messages on battling measles and other infectious diseases, two public health groups called for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign or be fired.
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A Deadly Mosquito-Borne Illness Rises as the U.S. Cuts All Climate-Health Funding
Climate change is driving an explosion in dengue cases. Studying that connection is about to get much harder.
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Trump’s Data Deletions Pose a Stark Threat to Public Health
In just the first few weeks of his second presidency, Donald Trump has taken an axe to the US government’s stockpiles of health data. Sweeping changes have been made to federal websites, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). By gutting government records, the president is obscuring information about life-and-death issues.
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With Crumbling Public Health Infrastructure, Rural Texas Scrambles to Respond to Measles
The measles outbreak in rural Texas has exposed how hospital buildings are ill-equipped. Meanwhile, long distances between providers makes testing people and transporting samples difficult.
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Second Death Reported as Measles Cases Climb in Texas, New Mexico
Health officials in New Mexico said yesterday that an unvaccinated adult who recently died tested positive for measles.
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U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Texas Nuclear Waste Disposal Case
The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders.
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As Bird Flu Spreads, Feds Might Undercut States by Firing Scientists, Removing Data
The avian influenza virus has killed millions of wild birds and led to emergency culling of commercial flocks.
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How Progress Happens
On Feb. 7, the National Institutes of Health issued a notice, effective Feb. 10, to cap reimbursements for indirect costs (IDC) associated with its grants. The world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, the NIH supports investigations into, among other things, efforts to fight cancer, control infectious disease, understand neurodegenerative disorders, and improve mental health. Harvard’s vice provost for research details crucial role of NIH support in science and medicine.
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Huge Areas May Face Possibly Fatal Heat Waves if Warming Continues
A new assessment warns that if Earth’s average temperature reaches 2 degrees C over the preindustrial average, widespread areas may become too hot during extreme heat events for many people to survive without artificial cooling.
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Diseased Illegal Immigrants Aren’t “Invading” the United States
My research at the Cato Institute on crime and terrorism committed by illegal immigrants conclusively shows that they commit less crime than native-born Americans and have murdered zero people in domestic attacks since 1975. We also fond no statistically significant relationship between the size of the immigrant population, the illegal immigrant population, or the legal immigrant population and the spread of serious communicable diseases.
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The long view
A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.