Welcome to Public Health Watch, a weekly roundup from Protect Our Care tracking catastrophic activity as part of Donald Trump’s sweeping war on health care. From installing anti-vaccine zealot RFK Jr. as Secretary of HHS to empowering Elon Musk to make indiscriminate cuts to our public health infrastructure, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, Donald Trump is endangering the lives of millions of Americans. Protect Our Care’s Public Health Watch will shine a spotlight on the worst of the Trump/RFK war on vaccines, science and public health and serve as a resource for the press, public and advocacy groups to hold them accountable.
What’s Happening In Public Health?
Dangerous Chaos At The HHS and the CDC
Stat: Government shutdown set to furlough more than 32,000 at HHS, hamper CDC, CMS communication More than 32,000 Department of Health and Human Services employees are set to be furloughed, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention communications will be impeded, and no new patients will be admitted to the National Institutes of Health’s clinical center as the federal government’s funding runs out. The shutdown began early Wednesday morning after Senate Democrats and Republicans failed to cut a deal on a temporary spending package that would have funded the government until the end of November. Senate Democrats refused to back the funding bill without an extension to Affordable Care Act subsidies and a restoration of cut Medicaid funds. The White House has threatened to fire federal workers, in addition to furloughs, in the event of a shutdown, but a memo from the Office of Management and Budget didn’t specify which agencies would see those cuts. Already, some operations have been disrupted due to the number of HHS employees who have been fired or resigned this year under previous efforts by President Trump and the U.S. DOGE Service to reduce the size of the federal government.
New York Times: Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint Three weeks after a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired her, according to her lawyer and a copy of the termination letter. Her dismissal was the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken against government scientists and environmental experts who warned that administration policies were endangering public health and safety. That scientist, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, who had directed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was one of four institute directors at the N.I.H. to be fired in recent days after first being demoted and placed on administrative leave in the spring. Dr. Marrazzo said in her complaint last month that she was demoted after objecting to Trump administration actions that she said had endangered research subjects, defied court orders and undermined vaccine research. The other institute directors to be dismissed were Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable, who had directed the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities; Dr. Diana Bianchi, who had directed the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and Shannon Zenk, who had directed the National Institute of Nursing Research.
New York Times: Health Department Moves to Block Harvard From Future Research Grants The Health and Human Services Department on Monday started the process for blocking Harvard University from receiving future research grants, three months after finding that the university violated civil rights law by failing to address the harassment of Jewish students on campus. Debarment is the government’s formal way of blacklisting contractors. Monday’s announcement that the Trump administration was initiating the debarment process represented a shift from May, when Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued a letter that simply disqualified Harvard from future federal funding. With this move, the administration is increasing pressure on Harvard at a time when the White House and university leaders have struggled to negotiate a settlement to their monthslong dispute over the administration’s campaign to expunge “woke” ideology from college campuses.
RFK Jr.’s War on Vaccines Will Have Deadly Consequences
New York Times: Kennedy’s Ties to Ally Leading Vaccine Lawsuits Raise Ethical Concerns On the same day that President Trump told pregnant women not to take Tylenol based on an unproven link to autism, a legal ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s also took a swing at the issue. The ally, Aaron Siri, a plaintiff’s lawyer who for years joined with Mr. Kennedy in court battles over vaccines, filed a 12-page petition to the Food and Drug Administration demanding that it strengthen warnings on the painkiller’s label. The issue is familiar to Mr. Siri, whose law firm encouraged people in 2023 to file claims about Tylenol and autism as lawsuits were pending across the country. An official F.D.A. warning related to pregnancy would likely bolster any litigation against the manufacturers of acetaminophen, including Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol. Kenvue has long maintained that Tylenol is safe for pregnant women. The petition was the latest salvo in a series of actions by lawyers and activists who are applying pressure in ways that align with Mr. Kennedy’s efforts to undermine vaccine policies and challenge product safety. Mr. Siri, who was Mr. Kennedy’s campaign lawyer, is at the forefront now of furthering their shared interests, inside government circles and outside through the courts. Their relationship seems mutually beneficial. The authority Mr. Kennedy wields over health policy is already proving advantageous for Mr. Siri and others who have been pursuing far-reaching changes that Mr. Kennedy also sought for years. Mr. Siri is leading a legal effort to enforce a religious exemption to vaccines that Mr. Kennedy officially supports. He has played a role in vetting candidates for departmental jobs and for an influential vaccine committee. In addition, Mr. Siri has filed a flurry of lawsuits against children’s toothpaste makers over fluoride, an additive that Mr. Kennedy also opposes.
Reuters: US CDC pulls broad support for COVID shot The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday recommended COVID-19 vaccines should be administered only through a shared decision of a healthcare provider and the individual, moving away from a broader backing for the shot.
The new recommendation, which aligns with that of its panel of outside experts, maintains access for the shot through health insurance. The acting director of the CDC also signed off on its advisers’ recommendations against use of the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine before the age of 4 years. Instead, separate shots will be given for measles-mumps-rubella and varicella, commonly known as chickenpox.
RFK Jr. Is A Political Liability For Trump And Republicans
Associated Press: FDA approves another generic abortion pill, prompting outrage from conservatives Federal officials have approved another generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, a regulatory formality that quickly triggered pushback from anti-abortion groups and politicians aligned with the Trump administration. Drugmaker Evita Solutions announced on its website that the Food and Drug Administration signed off on its low-cost form of the pill, which is approved to end pregnancies through 10 weeks. Students for Life Action, which opposes abortion, in a statement Thursday called the approval “a stain on the Trump presidency and another sign that the deep state at the FDA must go.” Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri also criticized the move in a post on X, stating, “I have lost confidence in the leadership at FDA.” A spokesperson for the agency said the FDA “has very limited discretion in deciding whether to approve a generic drug,” and added that FDA officials do not “endorse any product.”
Reuters: Though wary of COVID shots, these Trump voters balk at restricting traditional vaccines Chad Hill thinks some questions need to be asked about vaccines. Hill has harbored doubts about the COVID-19 vaccine since it was introduced, due to how quickly it was developed and released. He suspects that medical experts who pushed the vaccine were compromised by ties to drugmakers. And he supported Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to fire a federal vaccine advisory panel. When it comes to childhood vaccinations, a mainstay of U.S. public health for decades, Hill’s three teenage kids were unharmed by the shots that were required to attend school in their state of Ohio. But he is concerned that combined shots such as the measles-mumps-rubella immunization might be “too much” for young children and he worries about mercury in vaccines. He also takes seriously a friend who believes vaccines may have caused autism in his toddler. A mercury-containing preservative that is used in some vaccines has not been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also says research has not shown any link between the preservative and autism. Despite his concerns about childhood vaccines, Hill would not support new restrictions on them while more research is conducted. “If there are people that want it, I think it should be available to them,” said Hill, a supervisor at a nuclear power plant. “While you’re studying [vaccines], let [them] be available.” Hill is one of 20 Americans who voted for President Donald Trump whom Reuters has interviewed since February. Nearly all 20 voters have doubts about the COVID-19 vaccine and many expressed concerns about vaccinations more broadly. Like Hill, they raised questions about conflicts of interest among those who set vaccine schedules and the amount of research done by the scientific community. Still, each of these 20 Trump voters said they would only accept a certain amount of change before growing alarmed – and for each, that red line is in a slightly different place. Where Trump and Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccines, ultimately land on healthcare policy remains to be seen. But dramatic changes to traditional vaccines would prompt pushback from these Trump voters, according to the interviews.
Axios: RFK Jr. allies say autism claims will drive midterm turnout Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s belief that vaccines or Tylenol cause autism is resonating with a slice of voters who feel abandoned by the medical establishment. Why it matters: The Trump administration’s allies in Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement think Kennedy’s autism agenda will help rally MAHA voters to turn out in the midterm elections and vote for Republican candidates. But while tapping into growing mistrust of mainstream medicine and promoting controversial autism theories could energize some disillusioned voters, it risks alienating people with the condition, their families, and experts who view his rhetoric as harmful and misleading.
Other Dangerous MAHA Initiatives
Washington Post: RFK Jr. once targeted pesticides. Why the MAHA report gave them a pass. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a reputation for bashing powerful corporate interests in his quest to “Make America Healthy Again.” But one industry has eked out a win under Kennedy’s MAHA agenda: Big Agriculture. In May, the Trump administration’s MAHA commission released a report raising questions about the health effects of two commonly used pesticides, glyphosate and atrazine. The report’s rhetoric frustrated powerful agriculture groups such as CropLife America and the American Soybean Association, prompting them to launch a concerted lobbying blitz to promote the chemicals farmers rely on to produce large crops, according to interviews with industry officials. Major trade groups scrambled to meet with White House officials. They urged the commission in a coordinated social media campaign to take a “fact-based approach,” and sent letters to key federal departments. A top industry group helped coordinate a visit of Trump officials to a Maryland farm to see farming techniques in action. And in June, an industry lobbyist was appointed to a key position at the Environmental Protection Agency. Their efforts seemingly paid off. The Trump administration’s MAHA strategy document released last month did not call for restrictions on pesticides and instead said the EPA would work to ensure the public is aware of its “robust” review procedures, a marked shift from Kennedy’s past criticism of chemicals as contaminating the nation’s food supply.
Politico: Animal welfare is now part of RFK Jr.’s MAHA agenda Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s making animal welfare a component of his Make America Healthy Again mission. The health secretary has asked his agencies to refine high-tech methods of testing chemicals and drugs that don’t involve killing animals. He thinks phasing out animal testing and using the new methods will help figure out what’s causing chronic disease. It’s also got an ancillary benefit for Republicans: Animal-rights advocates like what they’re hearing. That’s another opportunity for President Donald Trump to co-opt a traditionally left-leaning constituency.
Public Health Threats
Mississippi Free Press: Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough, the State’s First Pertussis Death in 13 Years A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough, the Mississippi State Department of Health announced on Monday, marking the state’s first whooping cough death in 13 years. The infant was less than two months old and was not old enough to receive the pertussis vaccine, the agency said. Mississippi has seen 115 pertussis cases from Jan. 1, 2025, to Sept. 29. Through all of 2024, the state had only detected 49 whooping cough cases, MSDH reported. Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said that Mississippi’s last whooping cough deaths were in 2008 and 2012. “We do believe that declining vaccination rates are impacting this,” he told reporters on Sept. 29. “Mississippi, as you know, scores very high with our rate of vaccination for our infants and school-aged children, but we don’t score nearly as well with adults. And so, our concern is that adult Mississippians are not maintaining the pertussis immunity, which puts our babies at risk.”
HuffPost: South Carolina Confirms Measles Outbreak With U.S. Cases At 25-Year High South Carolina officials have confirmed an outbreak of measles in the state, contributing to what has been the highest level of cases in the U.S. since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. As of Wednesday, eight cases had been reported in the Upstate region of the state, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health. A measles outbreak is defined as three or more cases that are linked.
Washington Post: Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting. Parts of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Health Supply Chain Program that ship antimalarial and HIV supplies officially resumed within days of Trump’s order, but the suspension had lingering effects that left aid deliveries severely disrupted for months, according to a Washington Post investigation. The delays impeded the delivery of medications, rapid screening tests and other lifesaving supplies to more than 40 countries, including Congo, records show. A Post analysis of internal data from the first half of the year shows that supplies valued at more than $190 million were scheduled to arrive at distribution warehouses by the end of June. Instead, the analysis found, shipments worth nearly $76 million were not delivered, including the majority of medication needed to combat severe malaria. Some medicines never left the places where they were manufactured, and others were stranded in ports or customs facilities near the cities and villages where they were needed. Additional supplies valued at $63 million were delivered to the warehouses but delayed at least seven days, the threshold at which they are considered late under USAID guidelines. Those shipments were delayed on average by 41 days — long enough to leave shelves empty in clinics and hospitals that rely almost entirely on U.S. taxpayers for these critical goods.