Welcome to Public Health Watch, a weekly newsletter from Protect Our Care tracking catastrophic activity as part of Donald Trump and RFK Jr.’s sweeping assault on public health.
If HHS Secretary RFK Jr.’s New Year’s resolution was to endanger as many American kids as possible with preventable diseases, he’s unfortunately off to a remarkable start.
The fallout has just begun from the Trump-RFK Jr.’s CDC “unilateral” move this week, gutting the childhood vaccine schedule, including ceasing to recommend shots against hepatitis A and B, influenza, meningitis, respiratory syncytial virus, and rotavirus, despite the impeccable safety and efficacy records of these vaccines.
It was immediately clear that the decision was not based on any input or credible data from leading organizations in the vaccine research space, as most of the key groups were banned from participating in administration planning last August. But it’s even worse than originally thought as we learned today that RFK Jr’s CDC did not even bother consulting with the agency’s own vaccine experts before pulling the trigger on this historic attack on our public health and child safety. Kennedy once admitted no one should be taking medical advice from him, yet he’s deliberately silenced and shut out the very medical experts that Americans should be taking such advice from.
What makes this baseless vaccine rollback even more indefensible and reckless is that it comes amid alarming surges in measles and flu infections around the country, as Secretary Kennedy has continued to spread anti-vaccine misinformation far and wide in his official capacity.
The U.S. is on the brink of losing its measles elimination status as the latest outbreak has jumped to over 200 cases in South Carolina, while nationwide, confirmed measles cases topped 2,000 cases in 2025 for the first time in over 30 years. The vast majority of these cases – 93 percent — have been in unvaccinated kids and adults. 11% needed hospitalization. At least 3 died.
Yet, RFK Jr.’s HHS apparently hasn’t bothered to issue a press release mentioning the word ‘measles’ since October, let alone acknowledge the latest outbreak. But Kennedy did make plenty of false public statements last year about the safety of the measles vaccine itself, undoubtedly fanning the spread of the disease by discouraging vaccination.
Unfortunately, the worsening measles situation is likely just a harbinger of similar outbreaks to come under the CDC’s gutted guidance. Influenza is one of the vaccines the CDC is no longer recommending despite “flu-like illness activity now at [the] highest rate on record.” How is this ‘Making America Healthy Again’ exactly?
In The News
Measles Outbreaks:
- ABC: US measles cases surpass 2,000, highest in 30 years: CDC
- WACH: South Carolina measles cases approach 200 amid growing outbreak
- The Guardian: Anti-vaccine group once led by RFK Jr circulates false assertions amid measles outbreak
- Vox: The year measles came back
- Washington Post (Editorial): South Carolina serves up another taste of RFK Jr.’s America
- The Daily Beast: Health Authorities Issue Measles Alert at Creationist Museum
- Reuters: US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount
The GOP War on Vaccines Will Have Deadly Consequences:
Changes to the Childhood Vaccine Schedule
- Scott Gotlieb: “We’re going to have to build new pediatric hospitals” if we switch to Danish immunization schedule, because so many more kids will become seriously ill.
- Fierce Pharma: RFK Jr.’s CDC whacks 6 vaccines from childhood recommendation list after opaque monthlong review
- The Hill: Former FDA chief sounds alarm over HHS childhood vaccine overhaul
- Axios: Trump admin drops childhood vaccination reporting requirement
- Stat: Federal health officials slash recommended childhood vaccinations under Trump’s directive
- Politico: The big plan behind Kennedy’s overhaul of childhood vaccines
- Politico: RFK Jr. wanted to endorse the Danish vaccine schedule. He was forced to pull back.
- CNN: Exclusive: HHS planning to overhaul childhood vaccine schedule to recommend fewer shots, source says
- Washington Post: U.S. plans to stop recommending most childhood vaccines, defer to doctors
- Axios: Chaos could be coming for children’s vaccines
- Washington Post: CDC staff ‘blindsided’ as child vaccine schedule unilaterally overhauled
- New York Times: What to Know About the Vaccines Cut From C.D.C. Recommendations
- Stat: New vaccine schedule adds near- and long-term risks for children, experts warn
- Stat: Trump administration’s plan to shrink vaccine schedule sends health sector scrambling
- HuffPost: With Flu Rates Soaring, Why Did RFK’s CDC Stop Recommending The Vaccine For Kids?
- The Independent: Trump again urges pregnant women to avoid Tylenol as the CDC slashes recommended vaccines for children
- The Daily Beast: Republican Who Cast Key Vote for RFK Jr. Rages at His Vaccine Changes
Hep B Study In Guinea Bissau
- CIDRAP: CDC awards $1.6 million for hepatitis B vaccine study by controversial Danish researchers
- NOTUS: CDC to Fund Controversial Study in West Africa on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines
- Politico: CDC is funding a controversial study in Guinea-Bissau. Here’s what’s in it.
- Associated Press: US awards no-bid contract to Denmark scientists studying hepatitis B vaccine in African babies
Other Vaccine News
- NBC: Whooping cough cases soar as vaccination rates drop
- Washington Post: U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.
- New York Times: Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew
- CNN: Flu reaches highest level in the US in 25 years
- Stat: Kennedy vaccine adviser to take a new role at CDC on children’s health research
- Reuters: Medical groups’ challenge to Kennedy-backed vaccine policies can proceed, US judge rules
Chaos at HHS:
- Washington Post: How RFK Jr. upended the public health system
- ABC: HHS freezing child care payments to all states after Minnesota fraud allegations: Official
- Washington Post: American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr.
- Washington Post: National pediatrics association sues, claiming HHS grant cuts were retaliatory
- The Atlantic: The Most Feared Person at the NIH Is a Vaccine Researcher Plucked From Obscurity
- Stat: Director of NIH neurological disorders institute is ousted, adding to leadership churn
- Stat: FDA voucher program has become vehicle for political interference in drug review decisions, staffers say
- NJ.com: New poll: How did Trump’s top officials score with American voters? The numbers are ugly
- Washington Post: Kennedy, other Trump officials balk at requests to testify on Capitol Hill
Research Funding
Health Equity:
- Stat: As dangerous eugenic ideas spread, NIH falls silent
- Stat: Trump administration agrees to reconsider frozen and denied NIH grant submissions related to DEI
- Stat: NIH director says DEI-related grants that were restored under a court order won’t be renewed
- New York Times: Trump Moves to End Gender-Related Care for Minors, Threatening Hospitals That Offer It
Opinion:
- Washington Post (Editorial): RFK Jr. to America: Just trust me!
- New York Times (Thomas Edsall): Trump’s War on Public Health Is a Battle to the Death
- Stat (Jake Scott): Why Denmark’s vaccine schedule works for Denmark — but not for the United States
- New York Times (Benjamin Mazer): We Don’t Seem to Be Making America Healthy Again
- New York Times (Jeneen Interlandi): This Is the Damage Kennedy Has Done in Less Than a Year
- New York Times: Three Experts on Vaccines, Measles and Kennedy
- Stat (Stephen Soumerai and Christine Lu): RFK Jr.’s war on antidepressants is coming — and it will cost lives
More News We’re Watching:
- NOTUS: How MAHA Could Grow Its Reach Through Health Savings Accounts
- Stat: American food safety could be headed for a breakdown
- Politico: RFK Jr. says to eat more protein, less sugar in new dietary guidelines
- Stereogum: Diplo’s Hanging Out With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Now
- Stat: Covid-19 falls off list of top 10 causes of death in U.S.
- New York Times: Tatiana Schlossberg, Kennedy Daughter Who Wrote of Her Cancer, Dies at 35
- The Daily Mail: Bitter Kennedy family feud explodes as RFK Jr is ‘banned’ from late cousin Tatiana Schlossberg’s funeral to ‘protect her young kids’
- WIRED: New Records Reveal the Mess RFK Jr. Left When He Dumped a Dead Bear in Central Park
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