Trump Administration Health Policy

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its own childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, breaking with the CDC by rejecting its recent downgrades and continuing to recommend routine vaccination against 18 diseases — including RSV, hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, influenza and meningococcal disease — and saying it will no longer partner with CDC on a unified schedule, calling the revision dangerous and unnecessary. The AAP also reiterated a limited dengue recommendation for previously infected 9–16‑year‑olds in endemic areas amid halted U.S. distribution, while HHS defended the CDC changes as protective and aligned with international norms and front‑line pediatricians said they plan to follow the AAP and expect insurers to cover shots when parents choose them.

CBS synthesizes recent peer‑reviewed and preprint research showing that SARS‑CoV‑2 infection can trigger serious long‑term health problems — from higher risks of autism, speech and motor delays and other neurodevelopmental issues in children exposed in utero, to accelerated infant weight gain tied to later metabolic and cardiovascular disease, possible awakening of dormant cancer cells, and signs of premature brain aging — even after mild cases. The article cites a November NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine estimate putting the global annual burden of COVID’s chronic health consequences at about $1 trillion and per‑patient U.S. costs near $9,000, with roughly $170 billion a year in lost earnings, compared with on‑the‑order‑of‑tens‑of‑billions for seasonal flu. Against that backdrop, it details how the Trump administration has sharply narrowed CDC recommendations for who should receive COVID vaccination, framed shots as a matter of "shared clinical decision‑making," and halted Biden‑era contracts for more protective next‑generation vaccines, moves critics say run directly counter to the science and risk higher long‑run health‑care and disability costs. HHS officials respond that vaccines remain available and insured and defend the guidance shift as restoring informed consent and avoiding one‑size‑fits‑all mandates, while epidemiologist Michael Osterholm warns that the virus’s chronic footprint on the U.S. population will be felt for years and justifies more, not less, surveillance and research funding.

The article reports that FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has launched the Commissioner's National Priority Voucher program, an unprecedented effort to approve certain drugs in as little as one month if they are deemed to support "U.S. national interests," prompting alarm inside the agency about legality, ethics and patient safety. Seven current or recently departed FDA staff tell AP that reviewers have been instructed to skip normal regulatory steps on at least one highly anticipated anti‑obesity drug, and that scientists had to rush voucher paperwork for Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk after the White House tied their participation to obesity‑drug price cuts President Trump wanted to announce. At the top levels of FDA there is still confusion over who actually has the legal authority to sign approvals under the voucher scheme, which has never gone through the normal public rulemaking and sits atop a half‑dozen existing, congressionally authorized fast‑track programs that already give the U.S. the world’s fastest reviews. Outside experts like Harvard’s Aaron Kesselheim warn that a one‑to‑two‑month review "does not have scientific precedent" and cannot match the depth of standard six‑ to ten‑month assessments, while Reuters has already documented two voucher drugs being delayed amid safety issues, including a patient death. HHS insists the program maintains "gold standard" science, but former FDA lawyers say its opaque application process and pricing‑linked White House rollouts make it highly vulnerable to politicization, feeding broader concerns that Trump‑era health policy is subordinating independent drug oversight to short‑term political goals.

A Lancet review concludes there is no causal link between prenatal acetaminophen (Tylenol) use and autism or ADHD. The finding directly contradicts recent claims by Trump administration officials and has prompted mainstream medical experts and major broadcast outlets to publicly push back against the administration’s suggested Tylenol–autism connection.

Over a roughly 24‑hour span, HHS’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration abruptly terminated about 2,000 grants—nearly $2 billion, roughly one‑quarter of SAMHSA’s budget—via letters signed by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Carroll invoking a regulation that awards no longer “effectuate” program goals; many grantees reported little notice (some even received a later 2 a.m. termination email acknowledged as an error), triggering layoffs, canceled trainings and local losses such as Las Vegas’s PACT Coalition losing $560,000 and Boston’s Baker Center losing $1 million. After intense bipartisan and provider backlash and high‑level meetings inside the administration, HHS reversed the cuts and is notifying recipients that full funding will be restored, but officials have not explained who ordered the initial cancellations or the reversal, leaving advocates and lawmakers alarmed by the chaos.