Federal Agency
Appears in 9 stories
Operating under acting director with significant leadership turnover
Jay Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, publicly opposing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pandemic response policies. Five years later, he now controls both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health—the two largest federal public health agencies—making him the most powerful health official in America outside the cabinet.
Updated Feb 18
Tracking 910 cases across 24 states as of Feb 12
The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000—the culmination of decades of vaccination campaigns against the most contagious virus known to infect humans. On January 22, 2026, that achievement formally entered jeopardy when the country passed one year and two days of continuous transmission starting in West Texas. As of mid-February 2026, the crisis has accelerated with CDC confirming 910 cases across 24 states so far this year—90% outbreak-associated—while South Carolina's outbreak exploded to 950 cases by February 13, prompting a looming April PAHO review likely to revoke elimination status.
Updated Feb 15
Holds final authority to adopt ACIP’s new recommendation into the national schedule
In December 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—reconstituted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—voted 8–3 to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of all US newborns’ birth. On December 16, 2025, Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill formally adopted the recommendation, shifting to individual-based or shared clinical decision-making for infants of mothers testing negative for hepatitis B, with any first dose suggested no earlier than two months old; birth doses remain advised for infants of positive or unknown-status mothers.
Updated Feb 6
Adopted ACIP’s revised hepatitis B birth-dose policy on December 16, 2025; reviewing serology testing recommendation
On December 5, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—recently overhauled under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—voted 8–3 to end the longstanding recommendation that every U.S. newborn receive a hepatitis B vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth. For babies whose mothers test negative for hepatitis B, the panel now advises individualized decision-making with parents and suggests delaying the first dose until at least two months of age, while retaining the birth dose for infants whose mothers are infected or whose status is unknown; acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill ratified this on December 16, 2025.
Updated Feb 5
Primary source for overdose mortality data
For the first time since 2018, American overdose deaths are falling—and they've kept falling for more than two years. CDC provisional data through August 2025 shows approximately 72,800 overdose deaths in the preceding 12 months, a 21% decline from the previous period. Deaths peaked at 112,000 in 2022. The drop represents roughly 80 lives saved per day compared to the crisis peak.
Updated Jan 23
Lost 25% of staff in 2025; facing proposed 53% budget cut for FY2026
The United States joined the World Health Organization on June 14, 1948, three years after helping design it. On January 22, 2026, the U.S. became the first country to complete a withdrawal from the agency—walking away from 77 years of leadership in global health. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. jointly announced the withdrawal's completion, citing the WHO's 'failures during the COVID-19 pandemic' and its inability to demonstrate independence from 'inappropriate political influence.' The U.S. departed without paying between $130 million and $278 million in disputed dues, with the administration asserting no obligation to pay prior to exit.
Monitoring outbreak, assessing pandemic risk as 'low' but rising
A bird virus jumped the species barrier. In March 2024, H5N1 avian influenza appeared in U.S. dairy cattle for the first time in history—an unexpected leap that's infected over 1,000 herds across 17 states and 70 humans. One person has died. When New York inspectors found the virus in seven live poultry markets in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn on February 7, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul shuttered all 82 markets across the city and surrounding counties for emergency disinfection.
Updated Jan 7
Tracking cases, assessing elimination status, and supporting state outbreak responses
Measles, the virus the U.S. declared vanquished in 2000, is back with a vengeance. In 2025 it has infected nearly 2,000 Americans, with runaway outbreaks now in South Carolina’s Upstate and the Arizona–Utah border towns, forcing hundreds of mostly unvaccinated students and families into quarantine.
Updated Dec 11, 2025
Under pressured leadership changes and tasked with implementing revised vaccine guidance
In his second term, President Donald Trump has moved to fundamentally recast U.S. childhood vaccination policy, arguing that the country gives too many shots compared with its peers. On December 5, 2025, after a federal vaccine advisory panel voted 8–3 to end the longstanding recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B shot at birth, Trump signed a presidential memorandum ordering the Health and Human Services secretary and the CDC director to review the entire childhood schedule and align it where possible with “best practices from peer, developed countries.”
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