Axios

The U.S. Health Department is raising alarms about medications taken during pregnancy — even as leading medical groups say they're safe.

Why it matters: Mixed messages strain doctor-patient trust, which can delay care and put pregnant patients and babies at risk.

COVID vaccine eligibility could depend on where you live.

Zoom out: Some states are making their own vaccine rules to bypass Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's vaccine restrictions.

Charlie Kirk's memorial service is expected to draw thousands of supporters, including Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, to Arizona Sunday.

Why it matters: Top U.S. officials and conservative influencers will attend, amid heightened political tension and sweeping security.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine advisers on Friday unanimously endorsed scrapping a recommendation that Americans age 65 and older get a COVID-19 vaccine — but stopped short of saying they needed a prescription for the shot.

Why it matters: The change, if endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would signal an official lack of confidence in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. But it would have the effect of keeping the vaccines covered by health insurers.

Driving the news: The 12-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously recommended that older Americans only be vaccinated after consulting with a health provider.

• The panel also voted to recommend that individuals six months to 64 years old should have discussions with a provider that should emphasize the risks and benefits of vaccination.
• The panel's positions emphasizing personal choice are sure to add confusion for people wondering whether to get a COVID-19 vaccine this year.

During an at-times disorganized daylong meeting, ACIP members also voted to call on the CDC to promote what members called a more comprehensive informed consent processes that describes to patients "at least the six risks and uncertainties" the panel says are associated with the shots.

Friction point: Vaccine advisors deadlocked 6-6 on whether to adopt a recommendation that cities and states require a prescription for updated COVID-19 vaccines.

• ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorf cast the tiebreaking vote against the recommendation.
• The decision would have add extra barriers to getting a COVID-19 booster, since about 90% of people who were vaccinated last year got the shots at a pharmacy, according to the CDC.
• But some panel members said requiring a prescription would better ensure that patients understand the risks.
• Evelyn Griffin, an OB-GYN and one of the five new members Kennedy appointed to the panel this week, likened the requirement to getting blood pressure medication refilled or started.

What's next: The CDC — currently led by Kennedy's second in command, Jim O'Neill — would need to approve the recommendations before they become official government policy.

• States have already started to craft their own COVID-19 vaccination guidelines after the FDA in August approved boosters only for people over 65 and those with a set of underlying health conditions.
• A group of seven Northeastern states on Thursday formed an alliance to make its own recommendations, in response to changes Kennedy has made to national vaccine policy.

Zoom in: ACIP member Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at MIT with no health care background, presented conclusions from the committee's COVID-19 vaccine working group.

• They asserted that serious safety concerns about mRNA vaccines are not being appropriately addressed, and that current assessments of COVID-19 vaccine protection are based on "low-quality" data.
• Pfizer and Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been cleared for use by the FDA based on clinical studies involving tens of thousands of volunteer patients each. Hundreds of millions of doses were administered during the pandemic and its aftermath.
• The studies and real world evidence show that the vaccines are effective against serious illness from COVID-19 and safe for patients, with rare side effects.

Some medical professionals on the COVID-19 working group disputed the conclusions Levi presented.

• "COVID-19 vaccines are highly safe and effective," said Henry Bernstein, a professor of pediatrics at Hofstra University. "The need for a provider prescription create unnecessary steps to receiving a vaccine and do not effectively target those that are at high risk."

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine advisers on Thursday postponed a vote on whether all newborns should receive the Hepatitis B vaccine, saying they needed more time and information to consider the issue.

Why it matters: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' deliberations during a two-day meeting have at times been marked with confusion over what members are voting on, and whether there's sufficient data.

Local health facilities will be ground zero for the sweeping Medicaid changes that the GOP budget law unleashed.

Why it matters: The $1 trillion in cuts to federal Medicaid funding will quickly translate into lower reimbursements for facilities that are already grappling with higher labor costs and inflationary pressures.

Republicans' sweeping Medicaid overhaul has left a lot of the heavy lifting to governors and state health officials as the program launches the biggest package of changes in its 60-year history.

Why it matters: States working with hospitals, clinics and other providers will have to do more with less as they face about $1 trillion in program cuts and the likelihood of 10 million or more newly uninsured people from new work rules and other changes.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisors on Thursday approved limiting the availability of a combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, the virus that causes chicken pox.

• The 12-member panel also appeared poised to do away with the recommendation that all newborns receive the Hepatitis B vaccine, but delayed a vote until Friday.

The Trump administration said Thursday it is barring a University of Miami affiliate from the network that distributes donated organs, citing unsafe practices, administrative errors and underperformance.

Why it matters: The action, if completed, would mark the first time an organ procurement organization has been decertified, and the first time federal regulators have used their authority to pull an active contract for such work.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to reshape vaccine policy will hit a crescendo on Thursday, when his handpicked advisory panel is expected to consider limiting the availability of MMR, hepatitis B and COVID-19 shots.

Why it matters: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) traditionally operates on scientific consensus and makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President Trump is designating the anti-fascist antifa movement as a terrorist organization, according to a post he made during his state visit to the United Kingdom early Thursday U.K. time.

What he's saying: "I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes:

Many Democrats in America, for the first time, feel not merely powerless, but like targeted strangers in an occupied land.

• Many write to us wondering: What can they do beyond protesting government actions they find truly abhorrent and yelling on social media?

Why it matters: If there were simple answers, they wouldn't keep asking the same question. But, conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has offered several worthy thought experiments to help liberals — but really anyone — think more deeply about solutions.