Health

The Guardian - Donald Trump is pushing the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, a longtime vaccine opponent, to be more aggressive on cutting vaccines in the US, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. Kennedy recently cut the routine childhood immunization schedule in an unprecedented move.

Trump has a long record of anti-vaccine statements. As senior leaders have downplayed the safety and importance of vaccines, measles in the US has surged to its highest rate in 30 years, and there has been a rise in deaths from whooping cough, flu and tetanus in recent years.

NBC News - Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer senators’ questions at a hearing on the origins of Covid and the government’s handling of the pandemic, saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid the possibility that Republicans could try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.  Fauci accused Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., of having an “unhinged obsession” with him and wanting him put “behind bars.”

Axios - Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the hearing is part of a "campaign against science" that "has made this country less safe." "If there are valid scientific questions about the origins of this pandemic ... they should certainly be addressed, but not in a show trial, not as part of a continuing vendetta against a single individual." More

What's News  -The Trump administration plans to end a subsidy program that helped hold down premiums for Medicare prescription plans, known as Part D, after 2026.The move could leave many encouraged insurers to raise rates, knowing the government would pick up the extra cost, according to a Trump administration official. He said that other policies that help hold down Part seniors facing higher rates for their prescription coverage next year. The extra subsidies D costs remain in place and that seniors should be able to find lower premiums if they switch plans. Healthcare affordability is expected to be a focus in the midterm elections.