Theresa Gaffney

Representatives of expert groups to be barred from work supporting CDC’s vaccine advisers The reshaping of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel has continued, with the apparent barring of reps of medical associations from ACIP work groups.

The dismantling of the science-driven #ACIP continues, with members of professional groups (pediatricians, family docs, obgyns, etc) that have liaison status on the panel that shapes #CDC's vaccination policy told they are biased, can't serve on ACIP work groups. www.statnews.com/2025/08/01/c...

Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, he’s allowed such research to wither Jay Bhattacharya’s tenure as NIH director has seen health disparities research swept up in the Trump administration’s attack on DEI

NEW: Massive and confusing inconsistencies at NIH. New director says health disparities research is critical yet grants are being cut left and right. With @aniloza.bsky.social and @ericboodman.bsky.social. (Also my last story for STAT. 😢) www.statnews.com/2025/08/01/n...

Quick writeup of today's ADA celebration and why some folks declined to attend

www.statnews.com/2025/07/28/a...

Over a million queer women rely on Medicaid. What happens if they lose it? Lesbian and bisexual women are more likely to be low-income, more likely to be parents and more likely to rely on Medicaid. They could fall through the cracks of Trump’s new tax law.

Queer women will be hit especially hard by the incoming Medicaid cuts and restrictions in Trump's tax law.

That includes Sara Habein, a mother of two living in northern Montana, who recently learned that she has cysts in her brain.

Read her story in the latest from me and @chabeli.bsky.social

Mass starvation stalks Gaza as deaths from hunger rise Aid agencies warned for months that Israel’s harsh limits on food aid would bring acute malnutrition and widespread suffering to Gaza’s 2.1 million people.

“[Children's] small bodies are shutting down — they can’t breathe, their immune systems are collapsing."

Meanwhile, Gaza health authorities say more 1,000 people have been shot and killed trying to access food distribution sites backed by Israel and the US.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

MAHA prefers Coke with cane sugar, fries made with beef tallow, and ice cream with no synthetic dyes. Experts say those ingredients don't really make the foods any healthier. But what *I* wanted to know is if they made them taste any better. So I went on a mini MAHA food crawl for @statnews.com

How Trans Journalists Can Stay Safe and Well While Changing Their Bylines - The Open Notebook Changing a name is a very personal decision. Unfortunately for trans journalists, it’s a decision that has to occur in public. Changing a byline can mitigate the abuse and harassment that trans journa...

Are you a trans journalist trying to change your byline? You should check out this guide I have been writing for the last few months for @theopennotebook.bsky.social, which is full of tips/tricks from me and many other trans journalists.

www.theopennotebook.com/2025/07/22/h...

The association of AFP journalists writes: “Since AFP’s founding in 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had members of our ranks wounded or taken prisoner, but none of us can remember ever having seen a colleague die of hunger.”

For nonswimmers, the Masters program is essentially swim team for adults who have aged out of all other competition. This is not a program for Olympians. No one is being swindled bc the point is not to determine whose grandma in the 70+ category is the best lady swimmer in the US. It's for fun!!!

He Came to the U.S. to Support His Sick Child. He Was Detained. Then He Disappeared. Like most of the more than 230 Venezuelan men deported to a Salvadoran prison, José Manuel Ramos Bastidas had followed U.S. immigration rules. Then Trump rewrote them.

NEW: Of the 230+ Venezuelans deported to El Salvador:
• Almost half had immigration cases that were not yet decided
• More than 60 had pending asylum claims, some just days away from final hearings

These men had followed U.S. immigration procedures. Then Trump changed the rules.

Why MAHA’s push on Coca-Cola and ice cream is 'nutritionally hilarious' Getting Coca-Cola to use cane sugar rather and ice cream manufacturers to stop their use of synthetic dyes are the latest achievements trumpeted by the Make America Healthy Again movement.

This week, MAHA celebrated ice cream without artificial dyes and Coca-Cola without corn syrup. Nutrition experts say...uhhh, it's still Coke and ice cream.

from @sarah-todd.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/07/17/c...

Puerto Rico bans hormone therapy and gender surgery for trans people under 21 The law calls for 15 years in prison for any violators, as well as a $50,000 penalty and the revocation of all licenses and permits of medical staff.

"The law approved late Wednesday applies to those younger than 21 and calls for 15 years in prison for any violators, as well as a $50,000 penalty and the revocation of all licenses and permits of medical staff." www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...

With fewer protections and more paperwork, LGBTQ+ Americans face a Medicaid coverage cliff LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely to use Medicaid as their main insurance. Trump’s new tax law could create insurmountable hurdles for their health care.

LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely to use Medicaid as their main insurance. Trump’s new tax law could create insurmountable hurdles for their health care.

I spoke with some of the most vulnerable at risk of losing this care; disabled trans folks, who are afraid for their futures right now.

Zohran Mamdani and Mahmoud Khalil Are in on the Joke What it feels like to laugh when the world expects you to disappear.

“There was a brief silence among the three of us, a beat of shared recognition of the difficulties of staying alive.” Hanif Abdurraqib reflects on meeting Mahmoud Khalil and Zohran Mamdani at a comedy show.

MAHA’s European food envy is full of contradictions The idea of making the U.S. more like Europe is anathema to many in the Trump administration. But that’s what the Make America Healthy Again movement says it wants — at least when it comes to food.

What MAHA gets right — and wrong — about European food: www.statnews.com/2025/07/10/m...

If you're interested in how gender-affirming care providers and parents of trans kids might respond to what was said during yesterday's FTC event, there's some counter-programming happening now: www.youtube.com/live/RqKbnnH...

One of the speakers at this was Michelle Cretella. Don't know who she is? Boy, do I have some reading for you.

She is part of a fringe, conservative doctors group that calls itself the American College of Pediatricians.

Justice Department issues subpoenas to clinics and drugmakers over gender-affirming care A Justice Department official said it has issued “nearly 20 subpoenas” to clinics that provide gender-affirming care.

The DOJ has issued “nearly 20 subpoenas” to clinics that provide gender-affirming care, per DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle, who spoke at an all-day FTC workshop focused how the federal government might continue its crusade against trans health care. I watched: www.statnews.com/2025/07/09/d...

Getting off antidepressants isn’t as risky as is widely believed, review suggests A systematic review of almost 50 randomized clinical trials brings some clarity to concerns about antidepressant withdrawal

Wrote about a new systematic review on the symptoms that people do (or don't?) experience when they stop taking antidepressants. If you got spooked when RFK Jr. said during his confirmation hearing that it's as hard as getting off of heroin, take a read: www.statnews.com/2025/07/09/a...

U.S. sees most single-year measles cases since it declared disease eliminated The U.S. has now recorded more confirmed measles cases this year than in any year in well over a quarter-century.

News: U.S. sees most single-year measles cases since it declared disease eliminated, according to new CDC count. www.statnews.com/2025/07/09/m...

Senate passes Trump’s tax-cut bill that would slash Medicaid spending The Senate has passed a $4.5 trillion tax cut bill after last-minute changes to its health care provisions, as Republicans scrambled to get their party on board.

#Breaking: The Senate passed a $4.5 trillion tax cut bill after last-minute changes to its health care provisions, as Republicans scrambled to get their party on board.
www.statnews.com/2025/07/01/s...

Supreme Court rejects challenge to free preventive care, bolsters RFK Jr.'s power The SCOTUS decision preserves free preventive health care and sets the stage for a bigger role for RFK Jr. in determining what's covered.

BREAKING: The authority of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to indicate preventative health care insurers must cover survives a challenge to SCOTUS, but the 6-3 ruling gives the health secretary more sway over what must be covered. www.statnews.com/2025/06/27/s...

Supreme Court lets South Carolina ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, threatening access for thousands Most people who go to Planned Parenthood — including for birth control and cancer screenings — are insured through Medicaid. The ruling could undercut their ability to get basic health care.

Most people who go to Planned Parenthood — including for birth control and cancer screenings — are insured through Medicaid. The ruling could undercut their ability to get basic health care.

Supreme Court ruling on gender-affirming care delivers major setback for transgender rights Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors can stand after the Supreme Court ruled that it does not constitute sex-based discrimination, in a 6-3 decision.

“This is more important than people realize," law professor Nicole Huberfeld told me. Trans rights are "really the canary in the coal mine of how we treat people who are vulnerable minorities and whether they can get access to medical care that they need.” www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/s...

Just made an update to this story. While there are obvious, devastating consequences to this ruling for trans youth in states with bans, it doesn't stop there. There could also be implications for how states regulate medical care broadly and for federal legislation.

Supreme Court ruling on gender-affirming care delivers major setback for transgender rights Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors can stand after the Supreme Court ruled that it does not constitute sex-based discrimination, in a 6-3 decision.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Story here, will be updating: www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/s...

Federal judge rules that hundreds of NIH grant terminations were 'void and illegal' A federal judge ruled that some of the grant terminations by the National Institutes of Health on DEI grounds are “void and illegal.”

BREAKING: federal judge overrules hundreds of NIH grant terminations

www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/n...

A closer look at the new members of the CDC vaccine advisory panel For more than a half-century, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has relied on outside experts to guide the agency’s recommendations on how

RFK Jr's hand-picked new members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, who replace the experts he fired this week, include several who've been "openly critical of vaccines," as well as some "who have scant infectious disease experience." Read what we know:

www.statnews.com/2025/06/11/r...

RFK Jr. names new members of CDC's vaccine advisory panel Kennedy announced the new members of the panel of experts that advises the CDC on vaccine policy.

And the names are ... from @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social at @statnews.com , a developing story.

www.statnews.com/2025/06/11/r...

YouTube video by STAT Did RFK Jr. break a promise he made to GOP Senator?

New video- my new @statnews.com colleague @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social and I chat about RFK Jr.'s dismissal of all the members of ACIP, CDC's vaccine advisory board. Also I'm going to be doing a video every week now so please wish me luck (and like & subscribe plz) youtu.be/brVDswDpaeQ