She's 27 weeks pregnant and healing from a shattered vertebrae. On bad days, the pain is unbearable. She stopped taking heavy painkillers. Trump says she should give up Tylenol and "tough it out." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...
Covering health policy & politics for @nytimes. Former Congressional & White House Correspondent (Bush & Obama). Peloton aficionado, amateur painter, mom of 2 awesome adults. Tips: stolberg@nytimes.com
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She's 27 weeks pregnant and healing from a shattered vertebrae. On bad days, the pain is unbearable. She stopped taking heavy painkillers. Trump says she should give up Tylenol and "tough it out." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...
"In some respects this was the most unhinged discussion of autism that I have ever listened to." "We agree we need gold standard science, but that’s not what we got." Experts react to Trump & RFK Jr.'s press conference on autism. @nytimesoped.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...
For Trump, Who Has ‘Strong Feelings’ About Autism, the Issue Is Personal Here’s why; www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/u...
BREAKING: Florida judge dismisses Trump $15B case against @nytimes @nytimes.com @susannecraignyt.bsky.social @russbuettner.bsky.social @peterbakernyt.bsky.social Michael Schmidt
UPDATE: Today Cassidy invited RFK Jr. to testify. Kennedy spox was noncommittal; told me he will "will continue to hold productive conversations" with the health committee. Here's a recap of yesterday's hearing, ICYMI. w/Megan Mineiro www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/u...
ICYM Susan Monarez's testimony, here's my take on The Daily with @rachelabramsnyt.bsky.social. There's much more at stake than one woman's firing. The future health of all Americans -- and especially children -- is on the line. Listen here: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/p...
Monarez is testifying now. Here's my preview from yesterday of her prepared remarks: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/u...
Susan Monarez will tell the Senate that RFK Jr. fired her from CDC for “holding the line on scientific integrity.” She told him he could fire her if he didn’t trust her. Deb Houry, who quit CDC, will also testify. I’ll be in the room. Watch here for live updates. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...
Cassidy paved the way for Kennedy's confirmation, saying RFK Jr. promised a "unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship." Now the senator faces a tough primary challenge at home. He's dancing a fine line on Kennedy. w/ Megan Mineiro www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/u...
Pausing to remember Robert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist. He was 89. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/m...
Cassidy is asking RFK Jr. to encourage vaccination, amid whooping cough outbreak in Louisiana: x.com/senbillcassi...
RFK Jr. is far more willing to crack down on Big Pharma than he is on Big Food or Big Ag. Smart news analysis by @benjmueller.bsky.social and Dani Blum www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
My colleagues published this late last month: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/w...
Anyway, thank you for being kind.
🤣
Thank you. My preference is to avoid labels if possible. I don’t like anti-vaccine and honestly I’m not a fan of vaccine skeptic either. I’d rather be more descriptive but sometimes we resort to shorthand, imperfect though it is. I’ll give it some more thought.
BIG NEWS! Seriously. Prince Harry had tea with his father, King Charles. I am such a sucker for the royals. And I hate family feuds. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/w...
To your point: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
NEW: Trump was irritated by the negative coverage around chaos at the CDC, and the White House told RFK Jr. to tone down his rhetoric. Still, no evidence of a break between the president and his celebrity health secretary. w/ Maggie Haberman www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/u...
Report from MAHA presser: A reporter asked RFK Jr. if he agreed with President Trump that some vaccines work, pure and simple. Kennedy said, "I agree with that." Then he banged the gavel, ending the press conference.
Uh, did you read the story?
Kennedy is tapping into widely-held concerns about the medical establishment putting profits over patients. But experts in conspiracy theories say his 'conspiratorial mind-set' is dangerous for public health. My analysis of Thursday's hearing: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
Prediction: ACIP will abandon its recommendation for routine HepB vaccination for infants. Senate Republicans including two doctors -- Rand Paul and Roger Marshall (see below) are laying the groundwork for it.
What does Kennedy's 'conspiratorial mindset' mean for public health? My analysis, after Thursday's fiery hearing. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
Trump is clearly hedging his bets on RFK Jr and vaccines: “I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don’t have to be vaccinated.” www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...
RFK Jr. ordered the NIH’s Integrated Research Facility in Frederick to stop all research on serious infectious diseases yesterday at 5:00 PM. They study pathogens like Ebola there. You may be familiar with it from The Hot Zone. www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
Lots of fireworks as RFK Jr. is testifying this morning. I'm in the room. Follow our live updates here: www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...
NEW from @nytimes.com . Tensions inside NIH over vaccines have prompted a whistleblower complaint. @benjaminmueller.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/h...
BREAKING: Susan Monarez, fired CDC director, just launched a broadside against RFK Jr. “Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn’t reform. It is sabotage.” Kennedy testifies at 10. I’ll be in the room. www.wsj.com/opinion/robe...
Thank you!
Bill Cassidy and Rand Paul are fighting over whether Hep B vaccine should be given at birth.
These Texas "mad moms" have a goal of eliminating childhood vaccine mandates. That's what happened in Florida today. Other states may soon follow. I wrote about Texans for Vaccine Choice earlier this year. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u...
Getting rid of vaccine mandates is a long-held goal of the medical freedom movement. Nearly two years ago, I went to Mississippi to write a story that foreshadowed what happened in Florida today. www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/u...
Layoffs, firings, restructuring, funding cuts, resignations en masse. How RFK Jr. has upended the nation's public health infrastructure -- and what it means for America's health. My interview on @nprfreshair.bsky.social with guest host @davedavieswhyy.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/09/03/n...
Pfizer has responded to Trump’s demand to share data showing the safety and efficacy of COVID19 vaccines after scientists have already shared more than 600 scientific papers showing this. The CEO also mixed in some ego petting for Trump, which may help amplify any Trump-RFK Jr. wedge.
Weeks after a gunman opened fire on the CDC, House GOP 2026 budget proposes a ban on federally-funded research aimed at developing policies to prevent gun violence. The research resumed in 2020 after a two-decade freeze.
RFK Jr. , in @wsj.com, vows to restore public trust in CDC by getting rid of "bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep." Takes a shot @drdemetre.bsky.social, rejecting focus on “equity outcomes” or politically correct language like “pregnant people.” www.wsj.com/opinion/robe...
Updated our story to reflect these comments.
Nope. It ain’t over till it’s over.
CDC UPDATE: Well, it ain’t over till it’s over. Lawyer for Monarez says they reject the White House announcement of her firing because only the president can fire her.
It was late. We will update now that there is comment.
CDC WRAPUP: A White House spokesman emailed me at 9:30 p.m. to say that Susan Monarez, the CDC director, has been fired. This came after days of back-and-forth in which RFK Jr. tried to force her out and she refused. 4 other top CDC officials have quit. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/h...
BREAKING: the White House says it has fired the CDC director
NEW: David Kessler, who went after Big Tobacco when he ran FDA and later advised Biden, has given RFK Jr and Trump a legal strategy to go after Big Food. It’s a political gift and a shot across the bow. Will they take it? www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...
Tens of thousands of US owned contraceptives are sitting in a Belgian warehouse. Trump plans to burn them. @stephanienolen.bsky.social @jeannasmialek.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/w...
Trump wants women to have babies. He’s going to use a 55-year old Nixon-era birth control program, Title X, to achieve that goal by promoting “holistic” approaches to infertility — in keeping with his MAHA agenda. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/u...
Thimerosal sent RFK Jr down the path of vaccine hesitancy two decades ago. It was his “passion.” Here’s the story of how it landed on the ACIP agenda — and what it says about the way Kennedy is using his power. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...
The CDC posted this analysis of the safety of thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they took it down.
This is the study RFK Jr. relied on to withdraw funding from GAVI, the global vaccines program for children. It examines vaccinated and unvaccinated infants born in an urban community in Guinea-Bissau between 1978 and 1983. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Tomorrow's meeting of the CDC vaccine advisory committee will be one to watch. Cassidy wants it postponed. An ally of RFK is delivering a presentation on a vaccine preservative that was the subject of a 2014 book edited by Kennedy. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...
Update to this story coming soon -- Kennedy says he never told Cassidy he would not change the makeup of ACIP www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...
RFK Jr just announced the new chair and co-chair of ACIP. Chair: Martin Kulldorff. Co-chair: Robert Malone He also said he never committed to Cassidy not to change the makeup of the panel.
RFK Jr has named eight new members of the ACIP. Two in particular -- Martin Kulldorff and Robert Malone -- are likely to draw an uproar from pro-vaccine groups. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...
BREAKING: RFK Jr. names Martin Kulldorff and Robert Malone and six others to ACIP. x.com/SecKennedy/s...
NEW: One reason RFK Jr fired the entire ACIP is that all were appointed by Biden and some had donated to Democrats. The committee has always been apolitical in the past. Party Politics Is Said to Have Played a Role in Kennedy’s Firing of Vaccine Advisers www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/u...
BREAKING: The American Medical Association just passed an emergency resolution calling for the Senate to investigate RFK Jr over his decision to fire all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee. www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcover...
Kennedy’s War on Pesticides Riles Farmers and a G.O.P. Senator www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/u...
A delightful cross-generational story about a partnership between a 23-year-old animal lover (full disclosure: my young friend Ari Katz) and a woman 60 years his senior: Martha Stewart. They are teaching people about Raising the Perfect Pet. wapo.st/3Fkengj
Reporting while Jewish. This person's mother needs to wash out his mouth with soap.
These "mad moms" in Texas have been fighting vaccine mandates for 10 years Now they have an ally in Washington: RFK Jr. Their dream is a world in which "your vaccination status is irrelevant to your participation in society." They're getting closer to it. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u...
RFK Jr., asked how the US will remain competitive against other countries in biomedical research while also cutting funding, replied: "The Chinese are not spending a lot of money on D.E.I. and we are cutting those studies."
RFK Jr says mass firings and budget cuts at HHS will save money “without impacting critical services.” He will face tough questions on the Hill today. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u...
RFK Jr makes his first appearance on the Hill since becoming health secretary. Gonna be some fireworks. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u...
Enough said. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/u...
Does the Surgeon General have to be a practicing physician? Casey Means, a wellness specialist who left her surgical residency to practice "functional medicine" is sparking a debate. Laura Loomer is targeting her. Her brother Calley advises RFK and Trump. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/u...
"Thank you for your service." The Library of Congress is a national treasure. Trump fired its leader in a two-sentence email. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/u...
Trump's assault on LGBTQ-related health research: Nearly half of the 669 NIH grants that have been canceled in whole or in part related to LGBTQ health, according to a review by @nytimes.com of every terminated grant. @benjaminmueller.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/h...
RFK Jr.'s message to parents of newborns considering vaccination: "Do your own research." Yes, really. w/ @by-cjewett.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/u...
"The font fades toward the bottom of each word, in a way you are most accustomed to seeing not on government websites, where the goal is legibility, but rather on airport fiction." Thank you, really thank you @monicahesse.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova has been in ICE custody for about two months. Her colleague and friend Leon Peshkin says her case is causing some scientists to reconsider working in the U.S.
Well, I guess somebody came to their senses. Federal Officials Promise to Restore Funding to Women’s Health Initiative www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/h...
Days before RFK Jr. and other Trump administration officials announced they are banning certain food dyes, the National Confectioners Association provided candy for the White House Easter Egg Roll that contain the dyes they want to ban. candyusa.com/news/nca-pro...
The White House wants women to have more children. Seriously. Conservatives are on board. "We need to channel the MAHA spirit and really dive deep into infertility.” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/u...
RFK Jr says he wants to go after ultra processed foods. The nation's leading expert on the topic has just quit NIH, saying he was being censored. @alicecallahan.bsky.social has the scoop: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...
On this day 70 years ago, Jonas Salk's vaccine against polio was declared "80 to 90 percent effective" against the paralytic form of the disease. As a young reporter for @latimes.com , I profiled Salk in 1993, as he worked on an AIDS vaccine that never came to be. www.latimes.com/archives/la-...
To those who celebrate: Happy Passover. Freedom means freedom for everyone.
'Measles is only a car ride away!' -- Ontario's #measles outbreak is so big, even New York health officials are taking notice, by @murieldraaisma.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... via @cbcnews.ca #vaccination
GOP to parents: Don't expect any accommodations if you have a baby. @anniekarni.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u...
Absolute must-read story on the great @marionnestle.bsky.social, knower of all things about food and politics. She thought she had seen it all. Then came MAHA. People used to ask her what food had to do with politics. They don't ask that anymore. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/w...
Kennedy says he's a friend of Indian Country. Why are Native American leaders mad at him? 1. Program cuts. 2. Lack of consultation. 3. Shipping people he doesn't like to the Indian Health Service. "It's shameful," said former Interior Sec @debhaalandnm.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u...
Native American leaders feel betrayed by Kennedy. The final indignity was his plan to send top health officials — like Fauci’s wife — to the Indian Health Service. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u...
RFK Jr.’s Plan to Send Health Officials to ‘Indian Country’ Angers Native Leaders. Health Secretary says he is committed to improving the Indian Health Service. Native American leaders have doubts. “It’s shameful,” one said, by @sherylnyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u... via @nytimes.com
Trump on measles death in Texas: "We'll see what happens."
Kennedy promotes measles vaccine after attending funeral of another child who died of measles in Texas. “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the M.M.R. vaccine,” he wrote on social media. @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/h...
Measles has claimed the life of another child in West Texas. @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/h...
One way to get rid of senior health officials: reassign them to the Indian Health Service territories, like Alaska. This is how the Trump administration is forcing out top leaders at NIH, CDC, FDA and other health agencies. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...
"I left my job because I believe public health policy must always be guided by facts and not fantasy."
The top CDC spokesman quit last week. Here's why: + No public briefings since Trump took office + RFK Jr "listening to fringe voices" + Career infectious-disease experts pushed to search literature "for data to support Kennedy’s preferred treatments." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
My look at RFK Jr's highly orchestrated rollout. He makes claims (cell phones cause cancer) that are wrong. Public health leaders are horrified by him. But so long as he's not talking about vaccines, he's winning cautious support. Washington is bending to his agenda. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/u...
An American story: The Frankels had a dry goods store, which lost half its trade when Hitler came to power in 1933 and ordered a boycott of Jewish businesses. Their son, Max, rose to become the editor of The New York Times. May his memory be a blessing. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
Spent yesterday chasing down a phony CDC vaccine safety page that looked like it was put up by Kennedy’s former nonprofit, Childrens Health Defense. He told them to take it down. W/ @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social @apoorvanyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/h...
I think it's fair to say that Eric Gladen founded World Mercury Project. RFK took it over and turned it into Children's Health Defense. So it seems to me that he founded Children's Health Defense.
NEW: RFK Jr told Childrens Health Defense, the nonprofit he founded, to take down a phony web page that mimicked the CDC’s vaccine safety site. w/ @apoorvanyt.bsky.social @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/health/cdc-kennedy-vaccine-disinformation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
You can't make this stuff up. Columbia U rejected Trump's offer to sell the university property for $400 million. Now he wants the money. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/n...
As some of you may know, I've been working on a history of politics and public health. The manuscript isn't quite done, but I'll be giving a sneak preview at George Washington University tonight. Join us!
Elon Musk’s Starlink is now available across the White House campus. And while Starlink is donated, the fact that the internet service of the closest advisor to President Trump is installed in such a sensitive place is raising many questions. @rmac.bsky.social reports
Trump "has been on a revenge tour since he returned to the Oval Office, and he has several times exerted his power to revoke Secret Service protection from perceived enemies." By Shawn McCreesh www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/u...
We may never know the true origins of Covid. But at least we should have a civil conversation about it. Important @zey.bsky.social column. Five years later. We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/o...
White House decides to pull Weldon's nomination to lead CDC just hours before confirmation hearing that likely would have focused on his criticism of the measles vaccine at a time of measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico. Apoorva Mandavilli @sherylnyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/h...
Dave Weldon is out as Trump’s CDC pick, just hours before his confirmation hearing. White House concluded he didnt have the votes. W/ @apoorvanyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/h...