United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
Appears in 12 stories
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Serving as HHS Secretary since February 2025
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
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Active
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
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Leading federal effort to restrict pediatric gender care
Lurie Children's Hospital opened the Midwest's first pediatric gender identity clinic in 2013. Thirteen years later, it announced it will no longer prescribe gender-affirming medications to new patients under 18—days after HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart referred the hospital for federal investigation. Lurie joins at least 40 hospital systems that have paused or ended pediatric gender services since January 2025, including Rady Children's Health—California's largest pediatric healthcare system—which announced on January 23, 2026, it will stop all gender-affirming medical interventions on February 6. On February 3, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Rady for violating legally binding merger conditions that required the hospital to maintain gender-affirming care through 2034.
Updated Feb 6
US Secretary of Health and Human Services - ACIP overhaul leads to adopted hepatitis B policy change now under GAO review
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.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services - Architect of ACIP overhaul and broader vaccine-policy shift
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
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Under pressure after grant termination reversal; AHA implementation stalled without Congressional support
SAMHSA distributed $7.5 billion annually to fight addiction and mental illness. In one year, the Trump administration has cut its workforce by more than half, terminated roughly $2 billion in grants in March 2025, and folded the 33-year-old agency into a new bureaucratic structure that does not yet exist. On January 14, 2026, the administration abruptly terminated up to 2,800 additional grants totaling roughly $2 billion—then reversed course within 24 hours after bipartisan Congressional outcry, reinstating all funding. The whiplash left providers demoralized and uncertain about future stability.
Updated Jan 31
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Leading HHS; overseeing health agency restructuring
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.
Updated Jan 23
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services - Controls key levers over preventive-coverage recommendations after the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling.
People think “preventive care is free” is a fixed promise. It isn’t. It’s a living list that gets edited through a notice-and-comment process—then quietly becomes binding later when plan years roll over.
Updated Dec 20, 2025
President, Xcel Energy—Colorado - Public-facing operational lead explaining why PSPS restorations lag wind events: inspections and repairs must be completed before re-energizing lines.
Xcel Energy’s deliberate blackout on Colorado’s Front Range didn’t end neatly when the wind eased. By the time crews could start patrols, the first PSPS was entangled with widespread storm damage—Xcel said total weather-related outages reached about 120,000, far beyond the roughly 50,000 customers initially targeted for de-energization.
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Charged with expanding research methods and models tied to medical cannabis and hemp-derived cannabinoids
Trump’s executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana’s move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split-screen: public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.
Updated Dec 18, 2025
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary - Overseeing federal measles response while under fire for past anti-vaccine activism
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
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services - Architect of MAHA agenda and vaccine schedule review
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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