All articles tagged with #us department of health and human services
The Washington Post’s Editorial Board argues RFK Jr. has not abandoned his anti-vaccine agenda, noting that although the administration has tempered vaccine-restriction efforts for political reasons, it continues to pursue steps that could undermine immunization, keeping vaccine policy a contentious issue amid 2026 politics.
Moderna is launching a large-scale human trial of an mRNA vaccine for H5N1 bird flu after the Department of Health and Human Services canceled hundreds of millions in funding for vaccine development, signaling a shift in U.S. pandemic preparedness.
After leaving the WHO, the Trump administration is weighing a domestic, $2 billion-a-year plan to recreate the global disease surveillance and outbreak-response functions the U.S. formerly accessed through the WHO, arguing it would be cheaper and keep these capabilities under U.S. control.
Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, a move that has sparked controversy due to Kennedy's critical stance on vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry. This appointment is part of a series of contentious cabinet picks by Trump, raising concerns about Senate approval. Kennedy's nomination has been met with mixed reactions, with some praising his focus on transparency and chronic disease, while others worry about his views on scientific facts and public health safety.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has recommended that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) loosen federal restrictions on cannabis, calling for its reclassification from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug. This move, if approved, would align cannabis with substances having a low potential for dependency and abuse. While the recommendation falls short of removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act altogether, it could pave the way for further research and allow the cannabis industry to operate more freely. The proposal comes as public opinion in the US increasingly supports some form of cannabis legalization, with 40 out of 50 states having already passed laws allowing its use in some capacity.