Medicine

Reuters reports: Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos of the U.S. CDC resigned on Tuesday as co-leader of a working group that advises outside experts on COVID-19 vaccines and is leaving the agency, two sources familiar with the move told Reuters. Panagiotakopoulos said in an email to work group colleagues that her decision to step down was based on …

Axios reports: U.S. marijuana use among those 65 and older surged nearly 46% from 2021 to 2023, according to new research in JAMA Internal Medicine. The rapid adoption of state marijuana laws and commercialization of cannabis helped drive much of the increase. But there also are changing social dynamics that make marijuana more acceptable for dealing with chronic pain, stress …

Florida Politics reports: Following through on his mid-May vow to do so, Gov. Ron DeSantis has blocked bipartisan legislation that would have repealed a decades-old Florida law that critics derisively dubbed “free kill.” DeSantis confirmed he vetoed the measure, maintaining the state’s existing prohibition on lawsuits by unmarried adults over 25 and their parents from suing for pain and suffering …

The Washington Post reports: Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday. Of the 522 footnotes to scientific research in an initial version of the report sent to The Washington Post, at …

NPR reports: The Medical Council of Canada said in an email statement that the number of American doctors creating accounts on physiciansapply.ca, which is “typically the first step” to being licensed in Canada, has increased more than 750% over the past seven months compared with the same time period last year — from 71 applicants to 615. Separately, medical licensing …

STAT News reports: A group of physicians and researchers working on LGBTQ+ health sued the National Institutes of Health and HHS over the sweeping grant terminations that have impacted medical research on queer people as part of the implementation of President Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender people and diversity initiatives. Over a dozen researchers and a nonprofit group, GLMA: Health …

The Washington Post reports: China has pledged to give $500 million to the World Health Organization as the country is set to replace the United States as the group’s top state donor, expanding Beijing’s global influence in the wake of Washington’s retreat from international cooperation. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong told the World Health Assembly that his country is making …

The Guardian reports: Moderna said on Wednesday it had withdrawn an application seeking approval for its flu and Covid combination vaccine candidate after discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration. The company said it would resubmit the application later this year with vaccine efficacy data from a late-stage trial of its experimental seasonal influenza vaccine, which it expects to …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to require new clinical trials for approval of annual COVID-19 boosters for healthy Americans under 65, effectively limiting their availability this fall to older adults and those with a higher risk of developing severe illness, FDA leaders said on Tuesday. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and top U.S. vaccines regulator Vinay Prasad …

CBS News reports: Getting a shingles vaccine may help with more than the viral infection that causes painful rashes — new research shows it can also lower the risk of heart disease. In a study, published Monday in the European Heart Journal, researchers found people given the shot had a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular events, including stroke, heart failure …

The Texas Tribune reports: A Republican-backed bill that could make vaccination exemptions easier to obtain in Texas made it out of the House Public Health Committee on Thursday in a 7-6 vote along party lines. If House Bill 1586, authored by state Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston, is approved by both chambers of the Legislature, the state’s current exemption form would …

STAT News reports: People with autism and parents of autistic kids are asking clinicians to erase their diagnoses and cancelling appointments with medical professionals, according to interviews conducted in recent days at an international autism conference. Amy Esler, a pediatric psychologist at the University of Minnesota, said she has heard of similar cancellations from peers across the country through the …

CBS News reports: The Department of Health and Human Services has transferred $500 million from research into next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, redirecting the money to a single vaccine project linked to the Trump administration’s former acting head of the National Institutes of Health. Multiple federal health officials said they were surprised by the announcement, which bypassed the usual procedures overseen by …

Politico reports: Rep. Don Bacon, a key GOP moderate, is drawing a red line on Medicaid cuts. The Nebraska Republican has privately told the White House he won’t accept more than $500 billion in reductions to the program, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. That could complicate the GOP’s effort to pass a domestic policy bill …

Semafor reports: Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary said Thursday he has “no plans to take action” to restrict the availability of mifepristone, the pill used in most medication abortions in the US. Speaking at the Semafor World Economy Summit, Makary took a firmer stance on the issue than he did in his Senate confirmation hearing last month, when …

The Washington Post reports: The United States faces millions of measles cases over the next 25 years if vaccination rates for the disease drop 10 percent, according to new research published Thursday. No change in the current vaccination rate would result in hundreds of thousands of measles cases over the same period, according to a mathematical model produced by a team …

Axios reports: Food and Drug Administration databases that physicians and public health experts rely on for key drug safety and manufacturing information have been neglected due to DOGE-directed layoffs, leaving health professionals flying blind on basic questions about certain drugs they’re prescribing, current and former FDA officials tell Axios. Information gaps that have become a hallmark of the workforce reductions …

ABC News reports: The measles outbreak in western Texas has now reached 624 cases, with 27 new infections confirmed over the last five days. Nearly all of the cases are among unvaccinated individuals or among those whose vaccination status is unknown, according to new data published by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on Tuesday. The increase in …

Forbes reports: In the Trump administration, even academic journals of medical research are being scrutinized for being too woke. On April 14, the peer-reviewed medical journal CHEST, which focuses on respiratory diseases and sleep medicine, received a letter from Edward Martin, Jr., the U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia, probing whether the publication is “partisan,” and asking a …

NBC News reports: Dr. David Sugerman, a senior scientist leading the CDC’s measles response, said Tuesday at a meeting of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee that more than 90% of the cases are “related to the Southwest outbreak, driven by transmission in close-knit, undervaccinated communities.” “We do believe that there’s quite a large amount of cases that are not reported …