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Photo by fstop123 via Getty Images.
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Trump Administration’s Changing COVID-19 Vaccine Policies
In the last two weeks, senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Services have upended how the U.S. approaches COVID-19 vaccination, making two major policy changes without consulting the panels of independent experts that are usually involved in such decisions.
First, the Food and Drug Administration said that for any COVID-19 vaccines updated to match circulating strains, it expected to approve shots only for people 65 and older and those with at least one risk factor for severe COVID-19. For everyone else, the agency “anticipates the need” for new randomized controlled trials.
A week later, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made another announcement in a 58-second video posted to X.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,” he said. Kennedy did not cite any evidence for the change.
A few days after that, when the CDC actually updated the immunization schedules, however, only the recommendation for pregnant people -- regardless of health condition -- was removed. Kids without compromised immune systems are still recommended to get the vaccine, but only after consulting a provider in a process known as shared clinical decision-making.
Vaccines being recommended on the schedule is important because it determines which vaccines insurance companies are required to cover without cost-sharing.
Despite lingering questions, one thing is clear: The changes are likely to mean that fewer people will have access to a COVID-19 vaccine and fewer people will get vaccinated.
Staff Writer Catalina Jaramillo and Science Editor Jessica McDonald explain in a new Q&A what the policy changes might mean and why many experts are alarmed at how officials skirted the standard procedures to make the changes.
For more, read the full story: “Q&A on New COVID-19 Vaccine Policies.”
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President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that “you’ll have a 68% tax increase” if the One Big Beautiful Bill – which extends provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – doesn’t pass. The White House didn’t respond when we asked what that was based on, but we found that Trump instead may be referring to the percentage of Americans who would see a tax increase of some amount if the tax cuts expire. An expert at the Tax Policy Center told us that, on average, Americans’ taxes would rise about 7.5% if the tax cuts are allowed to fully expire. Read more: "Explaining Trump’s Claim of a ‘68%’ Tax Increase."
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In fact-checking a pro-Trump TV ad recently, we relied on various metrics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS data show that total employment increased by 464,000 between January and April. That’s lower than a 586,000 increase in employment during the same period in 2024. BLS data also measure core inflation, which is a measure of the change in the price of goods excluding food and energy items. The core CPI annual inflation rate was 2.8% in April. Since January, average hourly earnings had increased 0.6% as of April. Read more: "Pro-Trump TV Ad Overstates His Second-Term Economic Record."
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This week, Deputy Director Rob Farley attended a Leadership Academy workshop run by the Poynter Institute. Rob is one of 25 journalists selected for this year's program.
The weeklong workshop aims to help newsroom managers "sharpen strategic thinking, enhance team resilience and navigate modern newsroom complexities with confidence and clarity," according to Poynter.
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