Questions on the agenda for ACIP’s next meeting

STAT News · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here. Good morning. The idea of “looksmaxxing” has officially made it into STAT’s science team meetings. There’s a lot of journalism discussionmaxxing this phenomenon and one of its leaders, Clavicular. I found this essay by trans writer P.E. Moskowitz particularly interesting. Casey Means faces off against Cassidy at confirmation hearing Four months after she gave birth on the day she was supposed to appear before the Senate health committee, Casey Means faced questions and sparred with senators from both parties in her bid to become Trump’s surgeon general. Over more than two hours, all the hot topics came up: vaccines, autism, birth control, pesticides, conflicts of interest, and her use of psychedelic mushrooms. Read more from STAT’s Elizabeth Cooney, who watched the whole hearing so you didn’t have to. Means’ exchange with committee chair Bill Cassidy, a doctor himself, was particularly spicy. “Do you believe that vaccines, whether individually or collectively, contribute to autism?” Cassidy asked. Means didn’t answer directly, and Cassidy continued pushing. “A lot of evidence is showing that they’re not implicated. Do you not accept that evidence?” he asked. Read more from Liz again for her answer. Questions on the agenda for ACIP’s next meeting It appears the February meeting of the CDC’s vaccines advisory panel will occur in March this year. And the change in dates is not the only thing unusual about the meeting. The Federal Register notice suggests there may be votes on at least one issue outside the purview of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — Covid-19 vaccine-related injuries. ACIP can urge that CDC change who it recommends Covid shots for based on safety concerns. But the committee has no hand in the vaccine injury compensation process. However, the strictures of the ACIP constitution haven’t stopped the new ACIP before. The group, nowstacked with vaccine skeptics, voted in December to recommend that parents who vaccinate their infants against hepatitis B ask for a blood test after the first dose to see if the full shot regimen is needed. Two problems: There is no science showing one dose in infancy provides long-term protection, and recommending blood testing is outside the ACIP’s purview. That recommendation seems to be on hold. — Helen Branswell Where are the big trials on brain implants? The path to commercial viability for most medical devices starts with one simple step: establishing therapeutic value. Want to alleviate stroke? Remove blood clots. Treat schizophrenia? Reduce hallucinations. Et cetera. Then, companies conduct clinical trials to demonstrate if a device can achieve that goal better or more safely than alternatives. None of that applies to brain-computer interfaces. Startups have built devices that, when implanted, help people with ALS and paralysis move, speak, and expand their overall functioning. But the products don’t restore bodily function or cure any underlying medical condition. They’re more like wheelchairs for the mind, as STAT’s O. Rose Broderick puts it, serving as external devices that help perform certain actions. It’s been decades since scientists first demonstrated the potential of brain implants, but the clinical pathway is still out of focus. Read Rose’s comprehensive story about the barriers the industry is facing, and how its leaders are attempting to combat them. Would RFK Jr. debate Dr. Mike? Paul Offit, a renowned vaccine inventor and former CDC adviser, has been asked three times to debate health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he said yesterday at a webinar hosted by MedPage Today. Offit said he’s refused each time — even when offered $50,000. “I don’t think I would be able to sit next to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I have such enormous disdain for what he does,” said Offit, who prefers to organize his thoughts on his Substack. “This is very emotional for me.” The discussion focused on how — if at all — physicians should engage with misinformation. As STAT readers know, Kennedy has led a dramatic overhaul of American vaccine policy, making the country an outlier compared to peer nations. Mike Varshavski, a family medicine physician and social media influencer, embraces live debate. He’s appeared twice in a popular video series by Jubilee Media to talk with vaccine skeptics and Kennedy supporters. And he’s up for the challenge of debating Kennedy himself, he said yesterday. “This isn’t about platforming those who are spreading mis- or disinformation. They have the platform, it’s called the White House,” Varshavski said. “I’d like to take a page out of Secretary Kennedy’s handbook and invite him on The Checkup podcast to be a guest, for which I will donate $100,000 to the charity of his choice.” How Americans feel about chemicals More than 70% of adults are at least somewhat concerned about harmful chemicals in food and drinking water, according to a new survey of more than 5,300 people from the Pew Charitable Trusts. And 84% of respondents said the government needs to do more “to identify and regulate harmful chemicals found in everyday products” — including the majority of self-identified Republicans, Democrats, and those who declined to give a political affiliation. The survey was conducted in the fall, but the results come days after Kennedy threw his support behind President Trump’s executive order encouraging the use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate, igniting criticism from MAHA types who typically support him. The EPA has found that glyphosate doesn’t pose a risk to human health when used appropriately, but for years before joining HHS, Kennedy crusaded against its use. (For more on glyphosate, keep an eye out for a STAT video later today …) What we’re reading Leaked documents show Meta cracking down on access to abortion information, Mother Jones When do we become adults, really? New Yorker Rare disease advocates fume over FDA’s mixed signals, STAT Is it aging, or is it ADHD? Atlantic I had a brother with schizophrenia. I can’t stop thinking about Nick Reiner’s siblings, STAT