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What Trump’s latest executive order means (and doesn’t mean) for vaccine policy
The Trump administration issued an executive order on childhood vaccine recommendations Monday. It’s important that your reporting on the order clarifies what it does and doesn’t mean for families, including whether it changes actual national policy on vaccines (it does not). This quick primer can help journalists navigate the key points to better inform their…
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How a new White House proposal could fundamentally change American science
By Anil Oza, STAT The second Trump administration has created upheaval in the biomedical research community. Widespread grant terminations, fast-changing policy changes, and proposals to downsize federal spending have created unease among a group that has largely been able to lean on the government as a partner. In late May, another move caught the attention…
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Funding cuts have hobbled US research with no replacement in sight
The U.S. research machine has been hobbled. What will replace it? Moderator: Gideon Gil, Managing editor, STAT; AHCJ Board President Michael Bronstein, Ph.D., Assistant professor, University of Minnesota Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute for Health Informatics Sam Gill, President and CEO, Doris Duke Foundation Megan Molteni, Science writer, STAT Heather Pierce,…
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Elder services funding in the 2026 budget bill — is it enough?
Despite a brief government shutdown, Trump signed the 2026 budget bill shortly after Congress passed it on Feb. 3. It will fund the federal government, with a separate carve out and negotiation for the Department of Homeland Security, through September 30, 2026. The bill includes funding for several vital programs and services for older adults,…
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Deep federal cuts will make health care financially toxic, driving up medical debt
Early in 2020, Ella Nelson was 2 years old when her grandmother noticed a small lump on the right side of her abdomen. Finding that lump was the start of a difficult years-long odyssey for Ella, her mother, Megan, and her father, Marcus. Three weeks earlier, Megan Nelson had just given birth to Ella’s brother,…
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How to get quotes when scientists won’t talk on the record about climate change
I’ve covered health for a long time, as a writer and editor. This year, I’ve started reporting more on climate and health, which had not been my prior focus. Developing story ideas hasn’t been a problem. But developing sources — at a time when the White House is calling climate change a hoax, when universities…
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SNAP benefits on the brink: Why health journalists should look beyond the cliff
If federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments cease on Nov. 1 due to the ongoing federal funding standoff, millions of households will abruptly lose grocery dollars, with predictable downstream effects on health, access to care and community support. The USDA has warned that no SNAP funds will be distributed on Nov. 1 unless Congress…
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