Katherine Wells, the public health director in Lubbock, Texas, describes her fight to stop the largest measles outbreak since 2000 despite a chaotic reorganization of federal health agencies.
Infectious Diseases
Posted inPublic Health
How RFK Jr. is Upending Public Health
Two months on the job, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has plowed forward with mass firings, funding cuts and policy shifts. The most immediate effect is across state and local health agencies, where officials say they see new cracks in safeguards against diseases.
Posted inPublic Health
As Trump Targets USAID, What’s at Stake for U.S. and Global Health?
The Trump administration’s swift and sweeping efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development is creating chaos across global public health efforts. A doctor working to stop an Ebola outbreak in Uganda reflects on consequences, now and long-term, of America’s abrupt change in policy.
Posted inPublic Health
The Powerful Vaccine Committee RFK Jr. Could Soon Control
If the Senate confirms Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a vaccine skeptic — to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, he would control an influential group of federal vaccine advisors.
Posted inPublic Health
Disease Detectives
Inside one county’s efforts to use contact tracing to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
Posted inPublic Health
Coronavirus Conversations: Alison Buttenheim
Even public health experts are struggling to make the right decisions on whether to cancel plans in the midst of the coronavirus.