Public health

PUBLIC HEALTHWith Pennsylvania Leading the Way, U.S. Measles Cases Top 4,000
By Chris Dall
The United States added another 194 measles cases to its total last week, with the nation’s largest outbreak, in Pennsylvania, showing no signs of slowing down.
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PUBLIC HEALTHChronic Underinvestment and Recent Disruptions Have Weakened U.S. Public Health System: Report
America’s public health system is at an inflection point. Decades of chronic underinvestment, compounded by workforce reductions, funding disruptions, and institutional uncertainty during 2025 and 2026, have weakened the system’s capacity to protect communities from preventable disease and injury.
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PUBLIC HEALTHFor Some Americans, Vaccines Aren’t About Science but Faith
By Sarah Boden
None of the major world religions oppose vaccines, yet thousands of Americans claim that immunizations conflict with their faith.
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VACCINE EXEMPTIONSAs SCOTUS Rejects Emergency Appeal for Religious Exemption to Vaccines, Thorny First Amendment Issues Persist
By Sarah Boden
Since May, more than a half dozen petitions have been filed with the Supreme Court by people who claim mandatory vaccine policies have harmed their right to religious freedom. The issue is not going away.
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HAZARDOUS DUSTWhen the Dust Settles: Researchers Measure How Everyday Activity Spreads Hazardous Dust
By Marguerite Huber
Argonne researchers study the movement of dust particles from concrete surfaces during a simulated radiological contamination scenario, measuring how pedestrians and moving cars affect the spread of the particles.
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GUNSViolence Prevention Program Responsible for 61% Decline in Gun Violence Deaths and Injuries
UC Berkeley study finds the city of Richmond’s gun violence program led to three times the national decline in violence
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FOOD SAFETYA Summer of Recalls Exposes Holes in the Nation’s Food Safety Net
By Anna Claire Vollers
A summer of food recalls has focused attention on the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding and staff at several public health agencies that track foodborne illnesses, and prompted questions about whether those changes have made consumers more vulnerable.
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PUBLIC HEALTH The Threat of More, Expanded Measles Outbreaks Looms with Start of School
By Sarah Boden
A combination of dropping vaccination rates and skepticism – if not hostility – toward vaccination at the highest levels of HHS, resulting in conflicting federal messaging on vaccination, have created an opening for measles, widely considered the most contagious infectious disease known to humans.
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FLESH-EATING BACTERIAFlesh‑Eating Bacteria Are Devouring Limbs in Warming Waters Worldwide − Here’s How to Protect Yourself
By Bill Sullivan
Flesh-eating bacteria sounds like the premise of a bad horror movie, but it’s a growing – and potentially fatal – threat to people in the U.S. and beyond. Vibrio vulnificus, a type of flesh-eating bacteria that thrives in warm seawater, is once again threatening the safety of beachgoers and raw shellfish enthusiasts.
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ASSAULT ON SCIENCEExecutive Order on Vaccines Bypasses an Evidence‑Based Process That Has Kept Kids Safe
By Jake Scott
President Donald Trump’s 10 August 2026 executive order on measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is the latest move in the administration’s effort to dismantle the U.S. childhood immunization schedule.
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MEDICAL PREPAREDNESSWhat October 7 Taught Hospitals About Preparing for Modern Warfare
A new study of an Israeli hospital’s response to the October 7 attacks shows that while years of disaster training enabled staff to continue treating patients under rocket fire, real wartime conditions exposed critical gaps in communication, staffing, logistics, and casualty distribution. The findings offer practical lessons that could help hospitals worldwide prepare for prolonged armed conflicts and other large-scale emergencies.
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PUBLIC HEALTHString of Outbreaks Tests U.S. Public Health System Amid Funding Cuts, Vaccine Resistance
By Jennifer Shutt
Less than two years into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure at the helm of the department responsible for the health of millions of Americans, a string of outbreaks has repeatedly made headlines. Public health experts said the upswing is the result of several factors, but that Kennedy’s decision to cut back the country’s safety net while spreading misinformation about vaccines has aggravated the problem.
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MASS SHOOTINGCan Mass Shootings Be Prevented? Researchers Believe It’s Possible
By Jennifer Mascia, The Trace
New research examining more than 150,000 pages of police records, court transcripts, and after-action reports found that mass shootings are quite predictable, if you know what to look for.
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CLIMATE-CHANGE CHALLENGESAcross Europe, Heat Adaptation Plans Are Being Put to a Brutal Test
By Naveena Sadasivam
As global warming relentlessly continues to push temperatures upward, cities across Europe rehearsing what it might be like to live in the future when temperatures are projected to hit 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Those strategies are now being put to one of their biggest tests.
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WAR ON VACCINESThe Military Traded Its Flu Vaccine Mandate for “Medical Freedom” – an Outbreak Quickly Followed
By Katrine L. Wallace
The logic that drove George Washington in 1777 and the Army surgeon general in 1945 to require vaccination hasn’t really changed. A sick soldier can’t deploy, can’t train and can spread illness through an entire unit. The secretary of defense thought that ideological sloganeering was more important than science, medical knowledge, and the basic requirements of military readiness and operational readiness.
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