The White House is indefinitely postponing its selection of a permanent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, leaving acting head Jay Bhattacharya overseeing the agency past a key deadline.
Why it matters: The punt underscores the difficulty of finding a nominee who can be confirmed by the Senate and leaves the beleaguered public health agency without a full-time political leader.
A leading anti-vaccine activist is petitioning the Department of Health and Human Services to add more than 300 conditions to a table used for vaccine injury compensation claims — and is threatening to sue the agency if it doesn't.
Why it matters: The effort is led by vaccine-injury lawyer Aaron Siri, a longtime ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was invited to brief a vaccine advisory committee in December on the childhood immunization schedule.
Multiple high-level vacancies at federal health agencies are giving the Trump administration a chance to pivot from contentious vaccine policies to a more mainstream public health strategy.
Why it matters: The anticipated nomination of a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director and selection of a top Food and Drug Administration vaccine regulator will be closely watched for signs the White House wants to break from the drama that characterized much of the past year.
The Trump administration's suspension of certain immigrants' work authorization renewals is sidelining possibly thousands offoreign-born doctors, some of the affected physicians tell Axios.
Why it matters: The policy could worsen access to care in a health system already facing physician shortages.
