POLITICS
HHS moves to end gender-affirming care for trans youth
Lindsey Wasson/AP
The Trump administration has announced sweeping policies that, if enacted, could effectively end gender-affirming care for transgender youth at most hospitals in the U.S.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed on Thursday two rules to withhold federal funds in connection with care for trans minors, including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery. The most stringent rule would bar facilities that offer this care from receiving any funding from federal Medicare or Medicaid programs. It could take months or even a year for the agency to finalize the rules, which will almost certainly face legal challenges.
The attack on gender-affirming care didn't stop there. The House passed another bill today aimed at restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth, though it is not expected to pass the Senate. The Department of Health and Human Services also proposed a reversal to a 2024 Biden administration update to a landmark disability law that expanded the definition of disability to include gender dysphoria.
Patients and advocates slammed the moves, which run roughshod over decades of scientific consensus and evidence-based medicine that shows that gender-affirming care saves lives. Read more from STAT's Theresa Gaffney, Daniel Payne, and Chelsea Cirruzzo.
VACCINES
CDC's latest vaccine study … in West Africa?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded a $1.6 million grant to controversial researchers for a study on hepatitis B vaccines that some experts say may be unethical and is unlikely to generate data relevant to use of the vaccine in the U.S.
The agency didn't share details, but what we do know feels a bit like 2025 Health News Mad Libs: a U.S. health agency is funding a vaccine study of babies in Guinea-Bissau led by Danish researchers with ties to a top Food and Drug Administration official. The grant will fund a placebo-controlled trial of the hepatitis B vaccine in newborns. The researchers in questions have long focused on vaccines, and have faced questions from experts over some of their findings.
The news comes weeks after a panel that advises the CDC on vaccine policy voted to recommend doing away with the country's universal hepatitis B vaccine birth dose policy. The decades-old policy, which was supported by myriad studies, has been credited with driving down rates of hepatitis B infection in U.S. babies by 99%.
Who's the FDA official in question? Find out in this story from STAT's Helen Branswell and Lizzy Lawrence.
DRUGS
Trump touts marijuana rescheduling, and supervised drug consumption nonprofit turns four
A drug policy two-fer from the indefatigable Lev Facher yesterday. Most notably, President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the federal government to reclassify marijuana, marking a major milestone in American drug policy.
Under a new Schedule III classification, marijuana would remain illegal under federal law, but the move could facilitate additional research into cannabis. While the Trump administration cast the move as a long-awaited, commonsense measure to expand access to medical treatments, it drew swift condemnation from anti-legalization groups.
Federal marijuana rescheduling still must undergo a lengthy process to become official. The move is also unlikely to fundamentally reshape access to marijuana, either legal or illicit. Read Lev's first offering.
As Trump celebrated in the Oval Office, the nation's first nonprofit to openly offer supervised drug consumption services celebrated its fourth anniversary Thursday, following nearly a year of uncertainty and hostility from the federal government.
In a press conference, OnPoint officials touted the organization's work, including intervening to reverse 1,983 overdoses in its consumption spaces. Their already controversial work became more tenuous this year after the White House cracked down on homelessness and threatened to withhold funding from supervised consumption sites, which it said "only facilitate illegal drug use and its attendant harm."
Lev has you covered for more details about yesterday's celebration.
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