Two weeks ago, we were humbled by the conversations that followed our first issue. So many people are out there tracking these policies and their implications in depth—researchers, advocates, clinicians—and we’re blown away by what we’re finding. The public health response to what’s unfolding has been remarkable: states moving fast, medical organizations holding the line, legal teams working around the clock, communicators finding creative ways to reach people. We’ll be linking to as much of it as we can throughout this piece, because part of what we want this series to be is a jumping-off point, connecting you to the people on the ground doing this work and the resources they are creating.

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The United States has supported the World Health Organization (WHO) since its inception, playing a central role in its 1948 creation because it ultimately served American interests, despite the entity’s well-known flaws. Heavily influenced by the post-war notion that universalism was the best corrective to yet another devastating global conflict, 20th century leaders in the U.S. understood that improving global health and containing emergencies were desirable outcomes in and of themselves and would directly reduce health threats to Americans. At the time, the U.S. also recognized that building and maintaining an effective global health infrastructure was beyond its lone capacity. Because no one could predict where new infections would emerge, the world required a truly global surveillance and response system. Through WHO, the U.S. leveraged funding sources far beyond its own substantial monetary contributions and granted U.S. experts access to countries otherwise hostile to American initiatives. U.S. withdrawal from the organization on 22 January 2026 and from other international health partnerships, such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance—which I led from 2011 to 2023—makes achieving America’s interests more difficult, especially as the current administration dismantles much of the country’s other public health infrastructure.

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(TNND) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is refusing to review Moderna’s application for approval of an mRNA-based flu vaccine, the latest step taken by the administration that might chill the use of the technology that was key to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

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The Trump administration recently declared prenatal acetaminophen (paracetamol) exposure a cause of autism, misrepresenting scientific consensus and receiving swift criticism from experts and medical organizations. The administration’s choice to single out acetaminophen was surprising given the available data: several carefully designed studies, using large sibling cohorts from Norway, Sweden, and Japan, have investigated and disputed a potential acetaminophen-autism link.

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A measles outbreak in Collier County has reached 12 confirmed cases.

This outbreak joins ones already existing and growing in Texas and South Carolina with hundreds of cases. Those outbreaks are a threat to the United States keeping its measles-free status.

Starting Jan. 29, measles cases began showing up at Ave Maria University.

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Dozens of routinely updated CDC databases have gone quiet. Here’s what states and medical societies are doing to preserve U.S. public health.

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As measles cases continue to rise, the United States is at risk of losing its measles elimination status.

According to a spokesperson from the Pan American Health Organization, which will oversee the review of the United State’s measles elimination status on April 13, the “reestablishment of endemic transmission would be defined as a continuous chain of transmission lasting through or beyond” Jan. 20.

The Herald spoke to experts at Brown to better understand measles, its potential threats and the possibility of the United States losing its elimination status.

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The promise and perils of artificial intelligence (AI) are perhaps most starkly demonstrated in the worlds of healthcare and biomedical sciences. In these fields, striking the right balance between innovation and regulation is quite literally a matter of life and death. As scientists, policymakers, and practitioners around the world contemplate using AI to support research, transform the delivery of care, and protect us from the next pandemic, they must also contend with the potential of this technology to compromise privacy, curtail freedoms, and even create new biological threats.

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ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. RAMBLED THROUGH a long list of topics when he spoke at the White House during Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

He talked about dietary guidelines and rural health care. Prescription drugs and medical research. He even mentioned hospital price transparency, which is one of the more obscure parts of his portfolio as secretary of health and human services.

But there was one subject Kennedy skipped, in an omission as disturbing as it was conspicuous. He didn’t say a word about the measles outbreak in South Carolina, which is the nation’s biggest in decades.

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(TNND) — A dozen leading medical groups lent their support to the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2026 childhood vaccine recommendations, which run counter to recently revised recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, published its updated vaccine schedule Monday, weeks after the CDC trimmed the list of shots it advises all children receive.

The AAP recommends routine immunizations against 18 diseases, including RSV, hepatitis B, the annual flu shot, and others that the CDC now only recommends for high-risk groups or in consultation with a doctor.

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