Health News Roundup: Friday May 9th, 2025

The Good: Vaccines, Cervical Cancer, and New At-Home Screening. The Bad: Measles. The Ugly: NIH Grant Cuts

It has been a very long no good very bad week for anyone working in the sciences or medicine.

I am a researcher, inventor, and entrepreneur and have been trying to make sense of it all. There is no obvious reason for this level of damage to be done to our research and health institutions. Scientists in general are a hyper-logical group of people, and when repeated assaults to logical reasoning are launched by those meant to be leaders in national science and health initiatives, it can engender a lot of feelings. The first often being disbelief at the blatant stupidity.

This week I have also been accumulating a tremendous number of stories about the crumbling infrastructure inside Health and Human Services. As someone who is currently independent from federal funding, but connected to many who are impacted, I feel like a rescuer who can hear the tapping of people still alive inside of a capsized ship. Many are fearful of retaliation and career ending sabotage, but still feel desperate to get the message out. Their stories are trickling out slowly.

The people who are speaking publicly must be supported. They are brave and they represent the tip of the iceberg. They are risking their careers so that you and I hear the truth.

The further researchers get away from the disaster and destruction, the more willing some seem to be to talk about it. The link to their stories will be active here when the article is posted.

Despite all of this there have been some bright spots in public health news. Let’s start with the good news.

The Good: Vaccines, Cervical Cancer, and At-Home Screening

Vaccines continue to save lives and prove to be safe and effective.

Late last year it was reported that the HPV vaccine has led to a 62% drop in cervical cancer mortality in women. Last week clinical trial data showed that a single dose of either the bivalent Cervarix or 9-valent Gardasil 9 HPV vaccine had 97% efficacy in participants that were followed over 5 years. Notably Gardasil is approved for prevention of cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, oropharyngeal, and other head and neck cancers, not just cervical. The benefit of one shot being effective is improved distribution and prevention.

Currently the US is considering switching to a single dose schedule for this vaccine. Cervical cancer is preventable yet still the leading cause of death from cancer in 37 countries around the world. Cervical cancer rates have continued to drop in the United States and screening (PAP smear) along with HPV vaccination continue to be an important part of prevention and early detection which improves survival rates.

But no one likes PAP smears. I personally prefer long visits to the dentist.

So here is some even better news, today the FDA approved the first at-home Pap smear. This will likely lead to increased screening rates which will improve early detection rates. Early detection of cervical cancer is often lifesaving.

Read more about HPV and Cervical cancer prevention here. It read more about this history of the HPV vaccine (it was first developed in 1991) and the Nobel Prize awarded to Dr. zur Hausen for linking certain HPV strains to development of cervical cancer read more here.

The Bad: Measles

What began as a few cases in west Texas that I reported on in February has spread like wildfire across the United States.

We are now in the midst of the most severe measles outbreak in over 25 years, with cases surpassing 1,000 as of today, May 9th, 2025. In addition to home-grown cases, declines in global vaccine rates have lead to an increase in measles cases among unvaccinated travelers returning home.

Measles is the most infectious disease in circulation, with 9 out of 10 unvaccinated people becoming infected if exposed to the virus. Unlike many other viruses, the measles can remain infectious for hours in a room once the infected person has left. This is why when you see announcements of potential exposure it often spans several hours.

Health officials are urging communities to vaccinate, as measles can lead to severe complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis, and death. Vitamin A does not prevent measles and shows no benefit in studies done in countries where children have sufficient nutrition (the United States). Vitamin A supplementation should only be done under the direction of a physician as children are highly susceptible to vitamin A toxicity which may require hospitalization and can be deadly.

The MMR vaccine remains the most effective method for preventing measles infection. Many are becoming concerned about the potential return of endemic measles in the U.S. (Read more here: Houston Chronicle, Reuters)

As I have said before I do not see this outbreak subsiding anytime soon. Health and Human Services under RFK Jr has failed to take an active role in virus containment, promotion of vaccination, and has pulled funding for measles and other vaccination programs from local health departments. The CDC has indicated that containment is up to local public health departments and that cases are likely underreported.

The majority of states in the United States are under the herd immunity threshold for vaccination (95%) which means this virus will continue to spread. I do believe United States will soon lose it’s measles elimination status, an embarrassing reversal of decades of public health efforts. In the graphic below, only the blue states have an average vaccination rate that will support herd immunity.

Graphic from CDC.gov (https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html) May 9th, 2025.

In addition, other vaccine preventable illnesses have been making a comeback. One these is Pertussis (whooping cough or 100 day cough) which is prevented by the Tdap vaccine. I made the personal choice to update both Tdap and MMR a few years ago. Boosters of these vaccines are often given in adulthood if antibody titers are low or to the mother during pregnancy and after birth (respectively) to help protect the newborn. Tdap is recommended every 10 years and after possible tetanus exposure. If you are high risk or unsure of vaccination status it may be a good idea to discuss vaccination with your physician.

The Ugly: NIH Grant Cuts

The research community has been reeling from the chaos of grant funding claw-backs and grant cancellations that seemingly have no common theme beyond political retaliation.

Yesterday a JAMA report detailed how severe these cuts have been. In summary, a total of $1.8B in unexpected grant cancellations have occurred. This represents a total of 694 grants across 210 US Universities and Institutions.

The cuts covered nearly every research branch of the National Institute of Health with deep cuts to research in Cancer, Autoimmune Disease, Infectious Disease and Childhood Development. The largest dollar amount totally $112 million dollars of awarded grants were cut from The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the agency previously headed by Dr. Fauci. The next largest cuts by dollar amount were to Cancer research with $91 million in cuts to grants funded by the National Institute of Cancer. The largest proportional dollar amount ($66 million) was cut from grants awarded under the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

The only research areas across the National Institute of Health not cut were grants given to research in Complementary and Integrative Health and Clinical Center grants.

Federal grant spending is a net positive investment of tax payer dollars with an average of $2.5 per every $1 spent being returned to the US economy.

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Despite the bad news I remain hopeful that the tide will turn and that gold standard science, health, and medical research will prevail. In the meantime I will continue to work to provide in depth coverage of current health topics. Stay safe out there friends.