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U.S. pediatricians and infectious disease experts say the fight against rising measles cases nationwide is being hampered by a lack of forceful advocacy for vaccination from government health officials and statements on unproven treatments that are confusing parents. Since January, 505 people have been infected in Texas and more than 90 total in neighboring New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Two children have died in Texas, including an 8-year-old girl last week, and an adult death in New Mexico is under investigation. The United States has more than 600 known cases and outbreaks in six states, according to HHS. Dr. Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said leaders need to speak with a consistent science- and fact-based message about measles vaccination, calling that the only way to handle an outbreak like this. “That is the number one message we’re trying to put in front of everyone.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of advocating against vaccines, has backed vaccination as the best way to prevent measles from spreading since becoming the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But unlike previous health secretaries faced with containing outbreaks, his comments are not unequivocal. He has also made misleading claims about nutrition, vitamin A and other treatments, while exaggerating vaccine risks, even as U.S. vaccination rates are falling. “Our work is becoming harder by the minute,” said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Florida chapter, a state where kindergarten vaccination rates last school year were 81%, far below the 95% needed to establish community protection. An HHS spokesman in a statement disputed that there was a lack of strong federal messaging, saying Kennedy has repeatedly reinforced the important role of vaccines. The spokesman said HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been monitoring the situation and are collaborating with state and local health authorities, including by providing resources. “Secretary Kennedy remains committed to ensuring Americans have accurate information on all available treatment options,” the statement said. In an interview on CBS News on Wednesday, Kennedy repeated that it was his and the government’s position that people should get the measles vaccine. On Sunday, however, he followed a post on X championing the vaccine with another praising alternative treatments, drawing fresh criticism from disease experts. The CDC, the nation’s lead agency on infectious disease outbreaks which reports to Kennedy, has made just two official public statements and provided a weekly tally of cases on its website. HHS said the CDC has issued statements and updates as needed. Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the CDC needs to conduct frequent press conferences and issue multiple press releases urging Americans to vaccinate their children. In 2019, when a New York measles outbreak recorded 1,274 cases, CDC officials did just that and New York City made the vaccine mandatory, issuing summonses to families who failed to comply. That year, Health Secretary Alex Azar forcefully endorsed the measles vaccine, calling it “among the most-studied medical products we have”, and launched a national immunization campaign. Doctors are looking to fill in the communication void. AAP has produced new website content, several press releases, 20 social media posts and launched a misinformation-fighting initiative, aimed at clarifying the safety of vaccines and the role of Vitamin A, which Kennedy has touted. There is no treatment for the highly contagious vaccine-preventable disease beyond those to address symptoms and complications, AAP’s Kressly said. Vitamin A is only recommended when administered by a doctor in specific quantities as too much can cause liver damage. Some pediatricians in Texas have reported cases of liver toxicity among children, Kressly said. In his Sunday X post, Kennedy promoted the inhaled steroid budesonide, which is used to treat asthma, and the antibiotic clarithromycin. Antibiotics cannot treat a viral infection and using an inhaled steroid to treat measles-related inflammation is risky because it suppresses the immune system, which could make the infection “significantly worse,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Northwestern University and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Massive epidemic” The Texas outbreak likely involves thousands of cases as official case counts only tally laboratory-confirmed cases, Offit said. “This is a massive measles epidemic.” Measles typically causes one-to-three deaths per 1,000 cases. Three deaths linked with the Texas outbreak suggest there could be as many as 1,000 to 3,000 cases, epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina wrote in her Substack blog on Monday. Rising vaccine skepticism and misinformation have resulted in only 11 U.S. states with vaccination rates of 95% or above – the level needed to protect residents unable to receive the vaccine. The measles vaccine is 97% effective after two doses and 93% after one. Dr. Michael Donnelly, who crafts messaging for pediatricians across Medstar Health’s 10 hospitals in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas, said Kennedy’s comments set this year apart from the concerns raised by parents in prior years. On one side, you have people panicking when they don’t need to. And then on the other side, you have people who are pretty blase.” Dr. Alisa Kachikis, who cares for women with high-risk pregnancies at UW Medicine in Seattle, noted that measles can cause miscarriage and birth defects. She recommends pregnant women who are unvaccinated get the shot right after delivery to protect their baby. The vaccine can’t be given to children younger than six months and is usually not given until a child reaches 12 months. Dr. Theresa Horton, a pediatrician in Owasso, Oklahoma, said she used to tell parents if they didn’t vaccinate their children, they were relying on others who were vaccinated to protect them. With vaccination rates among Oklahoma kindergartners hovering around 88%, she now tells them: “We no longer have herd immunity.” Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Trump’s tariffs are currently on hold for all countries with the exception of China. If and when they do go into effect, however, your trip to the supermarket will likely get a whole lot pricier. The tariffs promise sweeping new taxes on imports from nearly all countries; and if past research tells us anything, the cost of those tariffstaxes paid by businesses on goods from outside the countrywill likely be passed on almost entirely to American consumers. Coupled with higher inflation and slower U.S. economic growth, these tariffs are expected to raise prices in the U.S., according to the Budget Lab at Yale. Here’s a look at some of the food items likely to be hit the hardest. What foods will get more expensive? Food that isn’t grown locally will take the biggest hit. However, the price of coffee, seafood, fruit, cheese, nuts, candy bars, and other imported foods, are likely to increase the most, according to experts, as reported by CNN. That’s because the U.S. imports approximately 80% of its coffee and seafood, 59% of its fresh fruit, and 35% of its fresh vegetables, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). While these foods are likely to increase the most, the damage isn’t limited to these grocery store items. Phil Lempert, a food trends reporter, known as the Supermarket Guru, told NPR that “probably almost half of the products in a supermarketabout 40,000 productswill be affected by these tariffs, whether it’s the entire product or just an ingredient.” Other groceries that consumers might want to keep an eye on include: alcohol, beef, and yes, chocolate, per NPR. Coffee The U.S. is the world’s second-leading coffee importer (both Arabica and Robusta varieties); and in 2023, about 80% of unroasted coffee imports came from Latin America (valued at $4.8 billion), principally from two countries: Brazil and Colombia, according to USDA. Seafood Chile, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam are the largest suppliers of seafood to this country, per the USDA. The U.S. imports about 80% of its seafood, with estimates as high as 85%, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, Vietnam and Indonesia, could see some of the highest “reciprocal” tariffs, pushing prices even higher. (But with the new 90-day pause on tariffs, the short- and long-term effects are yet to be determined.) Fruit Costa Rica and Guatemala are the leading exporters of bananas to the U.S. According to the USDA, we also get pineapple, avocados, and mangoes from Costa Rica; and from Guatemala, melons, plantains, and papayas. Lempert told NPR that because “these products don’t have a long shelf life,” the tariffs will not only cause higher prices but also availability issues. Cheese Some of our top cheese imports come from Europeparticularly, Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, according to USDA, which were subject to 20% EU tariffs before the 90-day pause. Gouda, brie, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses are among the cheese that could increase in price, according to NPR. Nuts The World Bank reported the U.S. imported a majority of its nuts from Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Brazil and Thailand in 2023. Pecans, cashews, and macadamia nuts could see the greatest price increases due to the tariffs, NPR reported. Additionally, America also exports nuts. The U.S. tree nut industry itself is now anticipating losses as they wait and see if Canada, China and Mexico will slap retaliatory tariffs in the future. The three are this country’s main trading partners for pistachios, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and macadamia nuts.
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E-Commerce
Return-to-office mandates have been unpopular among all kinds of employees, whether they work for the private sector or federal government. Despite vocal discontent, companies have generally pressed on with these policiesoften tasking human resources and people teams with implementing and enforcing them. It turns out many of the HR leaders who seemingly promote these policies have their misgivings, according to a report from people management platform Leapsome. In a survey of about 1,000 leaderswho oversee HR teams in the U.S. and a handful of European countriesmore than half said they were pressured by their companys CEO to enforce RTO policies that required workers to be in the office for a set number of days. Those pressures were even greater among American companies, with 63% of HR leaders in the U.S. reporting that their CEOs had pushed them to embrace return-to-office mandates. And yet, an overwhelming majority of those leaders (81%) believe strict RTO policies are ineffective. In fact, 42% of them say flexibility is the most important element of enabling collaboration. That’s contrary to what many CEOs have preached as they brought employees back into the office. Most of the HR leaders surveyed also claim that allowing people to work where they want improves overall productivity. Employee resistance to RTO If anything, RTO policies can actually damage trust among workers, according to the report, and make it more difficult for employers to recruit new employees successfullysomething HR leaders already seem to be experiencing. Sixty percent of them say that employees are resisting RTO mandates. Across private companies and federal agencies, stringent policies that mandate five days a week in the office have led employees to quit or look for new jobs. The Pew Research Center has found that nearly half of remote workers would leave their jobs if they could no longer work from home. Hundreds of Amazon workers who were surveyed in late 2024 said they were looking for other opportunities or planned to quit this year, in anticipation of the company’s new policy taking effect. And over the past two months, about 75,000 federal workers have accepted deferred resignation offers, partly driven by Trump eliminating remote work arrangements for all employees. Challenges of RTO implementation As some legal experts have pointed out, these RTO policies can also lead companies to inadvertently discriminate against certain employees, especially if mandates are enforced inconsistently; top performers who are considered more valuable may get more leeway when it comes to office attendance. The push to get employees back in the office also has an outsize impact on the people who benefited most from flexible working arrangements, from disabled workers to caregivers. It seems many HR leaders are acutely aware of this issue, not to mention what the ripple effects might be on workplace culture. More than half of the leaders surveyed said RTO mandates are detrimental for disabled workers and that those policies were at odds with company efforts to promote inclusion. The impact of the DEI backlash As conservative politicians and right-wing activists threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the workforce, about a third of HR leaders are also concerned about broader changes that could undermine DEI work, including budget cuts. The HR leaders who were surveyed argue that when workers see their employers cutting back on DEI programs, it can compromise performance and satisfaction and drive employees out of the company. (In a recent report from the research insights firm Gravity Research, many companies expressed concerns over how their employees would react to DEI cuts and that they felt pressured to make internal statements reaffirming their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.) Corporate leaders may have their reasons for reevaluating their DEI efforts and embracing RTO mandatesbut there can be real costs to making those changes.
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