Dr. Erica Schwartz Tapped To Lead CDC
Although some public health experts lauded the choice — she's a person with "experience, credentials and dedication to public health" — an ally to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s MAHA movement panned the pick: "She can’t even respect the right to and need for informed consent" on vaccines.
Dr. Erica Schwartz is seen as a highly qualified traditional choice and tapping her is the strongest signal yet that the administration is veering away from vaccine skepticism this election year. (Mandavilli, 4/16)
On the World Trade Center Health Program —
The Department of Health and Human Services reversed a staffing reduction at a health program that provides vital medical care for 9/11 heroes after New York lawmakers bemoaned the cuts. Officials in the CDC, a subagency of HHS, informed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) this week that the World Trade Center Health Program had gotten approval to hire 37 more employees to reach a goal of 120 full-time workers, following inquiries from her and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office. (Christenson, 4/15)
More health news on the Trump administration —
A psychedelic used in some countries to treat post-traumatic stress disorder is expected to get a closer examination from the federal government on its safety and effectiveness, sources told CBS News. The White House is drafting an executive order that would signal the Trump administration's willingness to further U.S. research into a drug called ibogaine. (Jacobs and Gounder, 4/16)
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said his deals with drugmakers would bring down prescription drug prices in the U.S. But a report released by Senate Democrats finds prices have continued to climb — in some cases, sharply. The report — released Thursday by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, ahead of a hearing focused on drug prices — found that companies that signed drug pricing deals with Trump have raised the cost of hundreds of medications and launched new ones at an average price of $353,000 a year. (Lovelace Jr., 4/16)
​Key senators are already dismissing a renewed attempt by the White House to cap medical research overhead costs, well before they start drafting fiscal 2027 spending bills. (Cohen, 4/15)
A Venezuelan man pleaded his case to asylum officials on Thursday in an interview that his wife, a well-known doctor in South Texas, planned to attend until she was detained at the airport with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter. Milenko Faria was interviewed at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices near Los Angeles, while his wife, Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, entered her sixth day in immigration custody in Texas and was unable to attend the appointment they had been waiting for for more than 10 years. (Salomon, 4/17)
