POLITICS
Pediatricians face off against the government
Adobe
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the nation's leading professional organization for doctors who care for kids, and the nation's federal health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, are at war.
It's a strange place to be. Both groups have a stated interest in fighting chronic disease in children, but are increasingly at loggerheads over what that means. AAP has taken on new roles in the second Trump administration, fighting to roll back vaccine policy changes and positioning itself as the de facto replacement for government vaccine advice. Later today, they will ask a federal judge to overturn Kennedy's latest reforms.
How is AAP changing its public strategy and internal structures to meet this political moment? STAT's Daniel Payne has the scoop.
VACCINES
The fallout from the FDA's snub of the Moderna vaccine
Will Trump administration policies paralyze the vaccine industry? The Food and Drug Administration's refusal to review Moderna's flu vaccine this week has sparked fears that companies could be dissuaded from developing new shots in the U.S., leaving the country flat-footed in future pandemics.
Executives at large vaccine developers have dealt with tremendous uncertainty as health secretary and longtime vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed shots from the childhood vaccination schedule and replaced members of a key immunization advisory board.
The letter sent to Moderna on Tuesday by a top FDA official, Vinay Prasad, could spur companies to look overseas for vaccine development. It's also another blow in a string of setbacks to Moderna. Read more from STAT's Jason Mast.
Want Moderna's take on all this? Listen to an interview between Moderna President Stephen Hoge and my colleagues on STAT's "The Readout LOUD" podcast.
MAHA
HHS shakes ups key advisers
Four HHS political appointees have been elevated into more senior roles, the department announced Thursday, saying the restructuring is key to accelerating health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda.
Chris Klomp, a former health IT CEO, will become chief counselor at HHS, overseeing "all operations of the department." Klomp was previously the head of the Centers for Medicare and has also played a large role in the department's push to lower drug prices. He joined a delegation of HHS officials, including Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz, last week in meeting with key Senate Republicans on drug pricing legislation, STAT reported.
Kyle Diamantas and Grace Graham have also been named senior counselors for the Food and Drug Administration. Graham was most recently the FDA's deputy commissioner for policy. Diamantas, an attorney with ties to Donald Trump Jr., was deputy commissioner for human foods. John Brooks will also be senior counselor at CMS. Brooks, who was recently CMS's chief policy and regulatory officer, worked on drug reform at HHS during Trump's first term before moving into health policy consulting. — Chelsea Cirruzzo
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