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 CDC director and selection of a top FDA vaccine regulator will be closely watched for signs the White House wants to break from the drama that characterized much of the past year.

Driving the news: The CDC pick could be imminent since acting director Jay Bhattacharya's appointment expires on Thursday unless a permanent nominee is named.

• That pick will have to be confirmed by the Senate — a potentially tall order in an election year after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump health nominees antagonized some of the chamber's Republican centrists.

The FDA also is picking a successor for Vinay Prasad, a polarizing figure who oversees vaccines and biologics and picked fights with patient advocates and biotech investors. Many are pushing for a more mainstream choice.

• The upheaval is also reaching the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, whose work has been temporarily frozen after a federal judge invalidated Kennedy picks. It's unclear whether a new slate of advisers will be chosen.
• Another question mark is surgeon general nominee Casey Means, a Kennedy ally and wellness influencer, who declined to fully urge vaccinations in her confirmation hearing. She remains in limbo, stalled by concerns from some GOP senators.

The big picture: The openings come amid signs the White House is eager to avoid further controversial health moves ahead of the midterm elections.

• Chris Klomp, a well-respected former health care investor who's now effectively chief operating officer of HHS, is involved in the sensitive personnel decisions.
• Klomp said at a Stat event last week that he wants a CDC director with "unassailably high moral integrity who is deeply experienced and ... is qualified to lead a staggeringly complicated and essential government agency."

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A leading anti-vaccine activist is petitioning HHS 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 Kennedy's who was invited to brief the CDC vaccine advisory committee in December on the childhood immunization schedule.

• Siri's petition could be another test of the Trump administration's willingness to accommodate vaccine controversy ahead of the midterm elections.

The big picture: Federal vaccine law has established a legal system to compensate people with vaccine injuries without bringing a civil lawsuit.

What we're watching: If Kennedy doesn't update the vaccine injury list, Siri has threatened to sue. Covered vaccines and the injuries associated with them are specified by HHS.

• Anti-vaccine advocates have long argued that the system excludes too many vaccine injuries, leaving victims unable to pursue compensation.

Siri's petition, brought on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, argues for a broader definition of "associated with" in connection with vaccine use, which would effectively swell the list of covered conditions.

• It argues that "the federal government's mere consideration of a vaccine injury is sufficient to add that injury to the Vaccine Injury Table, regardless of whether any causation was found," per a memo written by Richard Hughes, a partner at Epstein, Becker & Green.

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Abortions delivered via telehealth prescribing rose 26% in states with bans between 2024 and 2025 while travel across state lines to access the procedure continued to decline, the Guttmacher Institute said in a new report.

Why it matters: The boost in virtual care was aided by shield laws that provide legal protections to clinicians who offer telehealth abortion services to patients in states with restrictions.

• Abortion foes have sought to reverse the trend and are pressing the FDA to reimpose in-person dispensing requirements for the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone.

What they found: Telehealth abortions in states with bans rose from 72,000 to 91,000 from 2024 to 2025.

• At the same time, travel across state lines by residents of states with bans fell 16%, from 74,000 to 62,000.
• "Taken together, these estimates suggest a substantial shift in the way people in states with total bans access abortion care," Guttmacher said.

The organization, which supports abortion rights, said the number of clinician-provided abortions was largely unchanged between 2024 and 2025, at around 1.12 million.

• That represents the highest number of abortions provided in the U.S. since 2009 but is still well off the historical peak of more than 1.6 million in 1990.

At the end of 2025, there were 13 states with near-total abortion bans that had only limited exceptions, and another six with six- or 12-week bans.

One in three (32%) American adults say they've turned to AI chatbots for physician or mental health information in the past year — roughly the same proportion as those who use social media for health, according to the latest KFF tracking poll.

Why it matters: The desire for quick information or support is driving more people to AI, even though substantial numbers never follow up with a doctor or other health professional.

• About 1 in 5 say that the cost of seeing a clinician or the inability to get an appointment was a major reason for turning to AI.
• Larger shares of users under age 40 and with low incomes cited cost and access as reasons for going to chatbots.

Friction point: About 3 in 4 people (77%) say that they are concerned about the privacy of personal medical information provided to AI tools.

• But KFF said 13% of the public has uploaded information like test results or doctors' notes into an AI tool to get personalized explanations or health advice.

The survey of 1,343 adults was conducted February 24-March 2.

⚡️ The vice chair of Kennedy's vaccine advisory panel quit and said he wouldn't rejoin even if the court ruling freezing its work is overturned. (NYT)

🛑 Medical device giant Stryker confirmed that a cyberattack on its systems claimed by an Iran-linked group is now contained. (Healthcare IT News)

🩻 Deepfake X-rays generated by AI are so convincing that radiologists can't always notice that anything is awry. (Stat)