Overview
- Since February, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has executed a sweeping HHS reorganization that shut or consolidated units and triggered about 10,000 layoffs on top of roughly 10,000 buyouts, with parts of the plan still facing court challenges.
- HHS and NIH froze or canceled large tranches of research funding, including billions in NIH project reductions and roughly $500 million in terminated mRNA vaccine contracts.
- CDC vaccine policy shifted as the department ended recommendations for COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women, dismissed the 17-member advisory panel and installed skeptics, added limits to the MMRV combination shot, and revoked the routine hepatitis B shot at birth.
- Kennedy ordered CDC messaging to drop its categorical statement that vaccines do not cause autism and appended a website disclaimer about the change without presenting new evidence.
- The MAHA agenda expanded across agencies with campaigns on ultra-processed foods, food dyes and fluoride, drawing praise for wellness goals and criticism over disease risks and coverage uncertainty, while an HHS spokesperson defended the year’s actions as guided by “gold-standard science.”