RFK Jr.'s six-ish point plan for vaccine safety

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s two Senate grillings this week, everyone is looking for answers on what he actually means when he says he wants vaccines to be safe. Rachel Cohrs Zhang and I dug into that question.

Here's what we found. A blueprint from the HHS secretary nominee would, if implemented, redirect vaccine research, review recommendations for older shots, and strip legal protections from vaccine manufacturers.

RFK Jr. and the nonprofit he chaired until recently, Children's Health Defense, laid these priorities out in Six Steps to Vaccine Safety, published in his 2023 book. The CHD (which RFK Jr. left last year, according to financial disclosures) later added a seventh priority on their website. If these plans were implemented, they could include sweeping mandates to reassess vaccine data, shakeups of review boards, and changes to the vaccine schedule.

Everyone expects lawmakers from both parties will ask RFK Jr. about his views on vaccination during the hearings. His plans for vaccine safety lay out the most detailed view yet of how he would direct HHS to approach immunizations — and Rachel and I dissect how it would work. Read more.

white house

A new federal freeze throws health programs into limbo

The White House's budget office on Monday ordered government agencies to pause grants and loans on a host of government programs, the latest in a freeze on federal action that has upended health agencies.

The internal memo explicitly targets gender-affirming care and global financial assistance, citing two of President Trump's priorities during his campaign and his initial storm of executive orders on Inauguration Day. Its broad language about "grants and loans" could ensnare a number of other federal health and assistance programs, health care and legal experts speculated late Monday.

In the absence of more clear information, experts said the memo could be interpreted to halt many federally funded programs, ranging from medical research to food assistance and even Medicaid. More from me.

At the agencies

NIH tries to clarify communications freeze chaos

The NIH's myriad divisions can start new work on mission-critical research, and continue working on ongoing studies, but cannot publicly communicate about them until the new Trump administration lifts a communications freeze, the acting director said in a Monday afternoon memo obtained by STAT.

The agency also expects "additional guidance" from HHS this week on the communications freeze, which unleashed confusion about whether government workers could attend public meetings, speak with outside researchers, or dispatch public health information.

The memo sought to clarify a slew of questions raised in the wake of the communications freeze, such as when staff can travel, communicate with researchers, attend public meetings or hire for critical jobs. Some of that work can continue — but broadly, new research is paused until at least Feb. 1. More from me.

Plus: My colleagues dove into how the freeze is playing out on the ground, from NIH's Bethesda campus to an abruptly cancelled San Francisco conference. And researchers sound the alarm about a pause to federal research grants.

Are you affected by the Trump administration's pause on health communications, science meetings, and reviews? Share your experience.

campaign finance

RFK Jr. uses HHS freeze as a fundraising tool

RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign is looking to capitalize on the chaos of the communications freeze to dig out of debt, Isabella Cueto and Rachel report.

A fundraising email sent on Monday by the campaign committee described the "freeze on all new regulations, guidance, and announcements" as a way to "prevent unelected bureaucrats from further undermining our health freedom," and asked recipients to donate to help his campaign dig out of a $2 million shortfall.

The email, with the subject line "Trump Freezes the Swamp," nodded to RFK Jr.'s impending Senate confirmation hearings, imploring supporters to help clear the debt before he steps into the secretary role. Read more.

global health

CDC orders immediate stop to WHO cooperation

U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately, per a memo sent by a CDC official to senior leadership on Sunday night, The Associated Press reported.

President Trump last week ordered that the U.S. begin the process to withdraw from WHO, one of his first executive orders on inauguration day.

A withdrawal — and this sudden pause on work between U.S. agencies and the WHO — could throw a range of global health programs into limbo. Both U.S. and global health officials are monitoring the avian flu outbreak among dairy cows in the U.S.; there are also collaborative efforts on Marburg virus and mpox outbreaks in Africa. More from STAT's Helen Branswell on Trump's plan, and from AP on the memo.

abortion policy

Trump HHS signals anti-abortion steps

HHS plans to review its regulations on conscience and religious objections to abortion, its acting director said Monday night. It's a sign that the agency is preparing to peel back Biden's protections for abortion access.

"The Department will reevaluate all programs, regulations, and guidance to ensure Federal taxpayer dollars are not being used to pay for or promote elective abortion, consistent with the Hyde Amendment," acting HHS secretary Dorothy Fink said in a statement. The Hyde Amendment prohibits taxpayer dollars from going to abortion services or counseling. The Biden administration issued policies that required providers to provide abortions in an emergency that threatened the parent's life — a battle currently in court.

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What we're reading

Trump ends Fauci's security detail and says he'd feel no responsibility if harm befell him, The Associated Press
Veteran researcher who was critical of U.S. response to Covid named acting NIH head, STAT
Trump pauses disbursements to program supplying H.I.V. treatment worldwide, The New York Times
First Opinion: 'Where are our patients?': Three days of searching during the LA fires, STAT