By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday recommended updating this fall’s Covid shots to target the XFG variant, a fast-growing strain nicknamed “stratus.” The recommendation — from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee —
By Reuters Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is rewriting the rules of membership for a key vaccine advisory panel, according to a document published by his department on Monday, after a judge last month declared most of his prior selections unqualified and put their decisions on hold. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for
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By Amy Yeboah Quarkume and the Reach Alliance A Reach Alliance research team from Howard University is addressing postpartum care gaps in the United States and Ghana. Their newly published research report, “Improving Black Maternal Health: Postpartum Care, Mental Health, and Technology in the U.S. and Ghana,” highlights persistent barriers to care in both countries, despite their distinct healthcare structures. “It
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Kyla Marks’s grandmother grew up in a small rural town in Mississippi where access to dental care was scarce—a gap that left her without most of her teeth by the time she was in her mid-30s. “When I came into this world and met her, I never really saw her smile,” said Marks, a fourth-year
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By Tiara Moultrie Historically Black college and university (HBCUs) medical schools provide a crucial pathway to medical careers for Black students, first-generation students, and low-income students. HBCU medical schools are also distinguished by their commitment to reducing racial and socioeconomic health disparities and to providing services in low-income communities. Yet, recent changes in federal policy
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By Selena Simmons-Duffin A group of 128 Democratic members of Congress are calling on the federal government to prevent a funding shortfall for reproductive health clinics in two weeks. The letter, first shared with NPR, was drafted by the House Democratic Women’s Caucus and Reproductive Freedom Caucus and sent to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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As rural hospitals face declining reimbursement rates and worsening workforce shortages, Tennessee is among the states being hit the hardest. A recent report from the Physicians Advocacy Institute found that from 2019 to 2024, rural Tennessee lost 42% of its independent physicians and 44% of its independent medical practices. Meharry Medical College, a private, historically Black medical
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By Joe Walsh, Laura Doan The Trump administration launched its new TrumpRx prescription drug listing site late Thursday, part of a push by President Trump to offer lower direct-to-consumer drug prices. The president struck deals last year with more than a dozen drugmakers to list some of their medication on TrumpRx at steep discounts from list prices, with megacompanies
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By Erika Edwards and Jennifer Jett The United States has terminated its partnership with the World Health Organization, the Trump administration said Thursday, raising concerns about how it will combat flu and other diseases. The move follows an executive order Trump issued on the first day of his second term last January saying the U.S. would withdraw from the WHO
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By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. As open enrollment for Affordable Care Act insurance comes to an end, people are moving to cheaper plans or dropping their coverage entirely, according to state and federal data. Last year, Congress failed to extend enhanced tax credits for Obamacare customers. The result was soaring monthly premiums across the U.S. “People are saying: ‘I just can’t make the math
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By Aria Bendix For parents of young children, visits to the pediatrician could involve new challenges and confusion now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has drastically overhauled its recommended childhood immunizations. The agency on Monday shortened the list of vaccines recommended for all children, dropping the number of diseases targeted from 18 to 11
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