Health

MALTBY, Wash. — As President Donald Trump celebrates the passage of his sweeping “Big Beautiful Bill,” some Washington leaders are warning of serious consequences for the state’s most vulnerable residents. 

Now signed into law, the president’s budget includes $186 billion in cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade — reductions that some argue will hit rural communities especially hard.

The Trump administration’s new vaccine advisers endorsed this fall’s flu vaccines late last week, but only those that don’t contain the ingredient thimerosal, which has been falsely linked to autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The panel is also recommending that infants receive a shot to protect them against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

WASHINGTON — Actions by a vaccine advisory panel hand-picked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are putting Louisiana U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s reputation on Capitol Hill in a precarious position.

For 30 years, Republican Cassidy, once a physician at Baton Rouge’s charity hospital, advocated the safety and efficacy of vaccines to treat disease and save lives. During that same time, Kennedy raised doubts about these inoculations.

President Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a decades-long vaccine skeptic, as secretary of health and human services (HHS) is already undermining public trust in highly safe and effective vaccines.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Trump administration’s new vaccine advisers on Thursday endorsed this fall’s flu vaccinations for just about every American — but only if they use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.

Thimerosal is a preservative that has long been used in certain vaccines to prevent bacterial contamination. Learn more about its history and why the ingredient is being debated again.

The chair of the Senate health committee has called on a panel of vaccine advisers to delay plans to meet this week, after accusing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of stacking the panel with unqualified members and vocal vaccine critics. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — a medical doctor who spent decades promoting vaccinations for children — wrote that the group Kennedy appointed lacks experience studying microbiology, epidemiology, or immunology. Cassidy infamously voted to confirm RFK Jr.

Fairfax Bridge Closure The 103-year-old bridge is closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic after structural issues were found, cutting off a popular access to Mount Rainier National Park. 

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers began their first meeting Wednesday under intense scrutiny from medical experts worried about Americans’ access to lifesaving shots.