Overview

• At a Senate hearing, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioned evidence that COVID vaccines saved millions of lives, drawing rebukes from Sens. Mark Warner, Michael Bennet and John Barrasso.
• Reporting cites roughly 20,000 HHS staff reductions alongside grant cuts, with a ProPublica analysis finding more than 3,000 scientists and public-health officials and about 1,000 inspectors departed from CDC, NIH and FDA this year.
• Kennedy dismissed all members of the federal vaccine advisory committee and the CDC director, then in late August limited eligibility for updated COVID vaccines to older adults, those with certain conditions, or patients with a doctor’s recommendation.
• Blue and purple states announced countermeasures, including the West Coast Health Alliance and executive or standing orders in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Connecticut and Maine to maintain access and rely on medical groups and FDA guidance.
• Republican-led efforts moved in the opposite direction, with Idaho banning school vaccine mandates and Florida’s surgeon general seeking to repeal requirements, as officials report a pertussis surge in Florida and a measles outbreak in Texas concentrated among unvaccinated children.