Health

A new wave of Iranian missiles has struck multiple sites across Israel, damaging a hospital, and Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor as the two countries trade fire for a seventh consecutive day.

Rescue operations were under way on Thursday after an Iranian missile hit the Soroka Medical Center in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel. Iran said it was targeting a military site in the attack.

Reports said the Iranian projectiles made impact in at least six other locations, including in Tel Aviv and two of its districts – Holon and Ramat Gan. Emergency crews said at least 50 people were injured, including four who were in critical condition.

The Israeli army said its fighter jets struck dozens of sites in Iran, including the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor.

The partially built reactor was originally called Arak and is now named Khondab.

The military said it specifically targeted “the structure of the reactor’s core seal, which is a key component in plutonium production”.

Iranian media reported air defences were activated in the area of the Khondab nuclear facility and two projectiles hit an area close to it.

Officials told Iranian state TV that evacuations were made before the strikes and no risk of radiation or casualties was detected. There was no mention of any damage.

The attacks were carried out as the two countries traded fire for a seventh day after Israel launched a major attack on Friday on Iranian military facilities and nuclear sites, killing senior military officials and top nuclear scientists.

Iran responded to that attack with air strikes on Israel, and the conflict has since widened to include civilian targets, including residential areas and oil and gas facilities.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel although most have been shot down by Israel’s multitiered air defences.

Major hospital

The Soroka Medical Center, which has more than 1,000 beds and provides services to about 1 million residents of southern Israel, said in a statement there was “extensive damage” in several areas of the hospital and the emergency room was treating several minor injuries. The hospital was closed to all new patients except for life-threatening cases.

Many hospitals in Israel have activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and moving patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.

“This is a war crime committed by the Iranian regime,” Israeli Health Minister Uriel Buso was quoted as saying by Israeli Army Radio in reference to the attack on Soroka. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Iranian leaders they would pay “a heavy price” for the attack.

The Iranian news agency IRNA said the “main target” of the Beersheba attack “was the large [Israeli army] Command and Intelligence (IDF C4I) headquarters and the military intelligence camp in the Gav-Yam Technology Park”. The facility is next to the Soroka Medical Center, it said, claiming the health facility suffered only minor damage from the shockwave resulting from the missile strike.

Tight military censorship in Israel means information about sites such as military and intelligence facilities are not released to the public. According to Israeli media reports, a building next to the hospital described as “sensitive” sustained heavy damage.

Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political commentator, told Al Jazeera that Israeli authorities were focusing on the hospital attack and trying to send a “message that the Iranians target hospitals”.

“Of course, Israelis target hospitals as well. It’s important to mention that there really are very sensitive installations and headquarters very near to the hospital because Israel places its military headquarters in the midst of civilian neighbourhoods and towns,” he added, speaking from Tel Aviv.

Iranian state TV, meanwhile, reported the attack on the Arak site, saying there was “no radiation danger whatsoever”. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.

Israel had warned earlier on Thursday morning that it would attack the facility and urged the public to leave. The Israeli military said its latest round of air strikes also targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating.

The strikes came a day after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected United States calls for a surrender and warned that any US military involvement in the conflict would cause “irreparable damage to them”.

A Washington, DC-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran in the past week of air strikes and more than 1,300 have been wounded. Iran has fired about 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel, killing at least 24 people and wounding hundreds.

WASHINGTON — The go-broke dates for Medicare and Social Security trust funds have moved up as rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits have contributed to earlier projected depletion dates, according to an annual report released Wednesday.

The go-broke date — or the date at which the programs will no longer have enough funds to pay full benefits — was pushed up to 2033 for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, according to the new report from the programs’ trustees. Last year’s report put the go-broke date at 2036.

Meanwhile, Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034, instead of last year’s estimate of 2035. After that point, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.

The trustees say the latest findings show the urgency of needed changes to the programs, which have faced dire financial projections for decades. But making changes to the programs has long been politically unpopular, and lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare’s troubling math to the next generation.

President Trump and other Republicans have vowed not to make any cuts to Medicare or Social Security, even as they seek to shrink the federal government’s expenditures.

Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano, sworn into his role in May, said in a statement that “the financial status of the trust funds remains a top priority for the Trump Administration.”

“Current-law projections indicate that Medicare still faces a substantial financial shortfall that needs to be addressed with further legislation. Such legislation should be enacted sooner rather than later to minimize the impact on beneficiaries, providers, and taxpayers,” the trustees state in the report.

The trustees are made up of six people — the Treasury Secretary serves as managing trustee, alongside the secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the commissioner of Social Security. Two other presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed trustees serve as public representatives, however those roles have been vacant since July 2015.

About 68 million people are enrolled in Medicare, the federal government’s health insurance that covers those 65 and older, as well as people with severe disabilities or illnesses.

Wednesday’s report shows a worsening situation for the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund compared to last year. But the forecasted go-broke date of 2033 is still later than the dates of 2031, 2028 and 2026 predicted just a few years ago.

Once the fund’s reserves become depleted, Medicare would be able to cover only 89% of costs for patients’ hospital visits, hospice care and nursing home stays or home health care that follow hospital visits.

The report said expenses last year for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund came in higher than expected.

Income exceeded expenditures by nearly $29 billion last year for the hospital insurance trust fund, the report stated. Trustees expect that surplus to continue through 2027. Deficits then will follow until the fund becomes depleted in 2033.

The report states that the Social Security Social Security Fairness Act, enacted in January, which repealed the Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset provisions of the Social Security Act and increased Social Security benefit levels for some workers, had an impact on the depletion date of SSA’s trust funds.

Romina Boccia, a director of Budget and Entitlement Policy at the libertarian CATO Institute called the repeal of the provisions “a political giveaway masquerading as reform. Instead of tackling Social Security’s structural imbalances, Congress chose to increase benefits for a vocal minority—accelerating trust fund insolvency.”

“It’s a clear sign that populist pressure now outweighs fiscal responsibility and economic sanity on both sides of the aisle,” She said.

Pair that with a Republican reconciliation bill that increases tax giveaways while refusing to rein in even the most dubious Medicaid expansions, and the message is unmistakable: Washington is still in giveaway mode.

AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said “Congress must act to protect and strengthen the Social Security that Americans have earned and paid into throughout their working lives.” “More than 69 million Americans rely on Social Security today and as America’s population ages, the stability of this vital program only becomes more important.”

Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67. The eligibility age has never changed for Medicare, with people eligible for the medical coverage when they turn 65.

Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the popular public benefit program said in a statement that “there are two options for action: Bringing more money into Social Security, or reducing benefits. Any politician who doesn’t support increasing Social Security’s revenue is, by default, supporting benefit cuts.”

Congressional Budget Office reporting has stated that the biggest drivers of debt rising in relation to GDP are increasing interest costs and spending for Medicare and Social Security. An aging population drives those numbers.

Several legislative proposals have been put forward to address Social Security’s impending insolvency.

Hussein writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Amanda Seitz and Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — President Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner for the federal agency that oversees nuclear safety as he continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies.

Christopher Hanson, a former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in a statement Monday that Trump terminated his position as NRC commissioner without cause, “contrary to existing law and longstanding precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees.”

The firing of Hanson comes as Trump seeks to take authority away from the independent safety agency, which has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades. Trump signed executive orders in May intended to quadruple domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, a goal experts say the United States is highly unlikely to reach. To speed up the development of nuclear power, the orders grant the U.S. Energy secretary authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in an emailed statement that “all organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction” and that the Republican president reserves the right to “remove employees within his own executive branch.”

Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace. In a similar move, two National Labor Relations Board members were fired. Willie Phillips, a Democratic member and former chairman of the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, stepped down in April, telling reporters that the White House asked him to do so.

Trump also signed an executive order to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, called Hanson’s firing illegal and another attempt by Trump to undermine independent agencies and consolidate power in the White House.

“Congress explicitly created the NRC as an independent agency, insulated from the whims of any president, knowing that was the only way to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the American people,” Pallone said in a statement.

Senate Democrats also said Trump overstepped his authority. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement that “Trump’s lawlessness” threatens the commission’s ability to ensure that nuclear power plants and nuclear materials are safe and free from political interference.

Hanson was nominated to the commission by Trump in 2020. He was appointed chair by former President Biden in January 2021 and served in that role until Trump’s inauguration to a second term as president. Trump selected David Wright, a Republican member of the commission, to serve as chair. Hanson continued to serve on the NRC as a commissioner. His term was due to end in 2029.

Wright’s term expires on June 30. The White House has not said if he will be reappointed.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called Hanson a dedicated public servant and a strong supporter of the NRC’s public health and safety mission. Firing Hanson is Trump’s “latest outrageous move to undermine the independence and integrity” of the agency that protects the U.S. homeland from nuclear power plant disasters, Lyman said in a statement.

The NRC confirmed Hanson’s service ended on Friday, bringing the panel to two Democrats and two Republicans. The commission has functioned in the past with fewer than the required five commissioners and will continue to do so, the statement said.

McDermott and Daly write for the Associated Press. McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

Federal judge on bench for 40 years lambasts grant terminations as ‘racist’ and anti-LGBTQ.

A Massachusetts federal judge has declared that cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants made by the administration of US President Donald Trump are “illegal” and “void,” and ordered that many of the grants be restored.

In a ruling issued on Monday, Judge William Young vacated the terminations that began in late February and said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily cancelling more than $1bn in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Young told the court there could be little doubt the cuts represent “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community”, according to quotes published on X by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.

In April, a group of researchers sued the NIH, saying hundreds of critical research projects were halted due to an “ideological purge”. The plaintiffs argued that the reasons given for the terminations – connections with “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and “gender identity” – were vague and lacking in concrete explanation.

Terminated grants included programmes focusing on women, racial minorities and the health of health of gay, lesbian and transgender people, but also included studies on cancer, youth suicide and bone health. The government has argued that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the NIH has discretion to set its own priorities.

Young said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to organisations and Democratic-led states that sued over the terminations. And the judge strongly suggested that as the case proceeds, he could issue a more sweeping decision.

Young, who was appointed by US President Ronald Reagan, offered a harsh rebuke to the government, saying that in his 40 years on the bench, he had “never seen evidence of racial discrimination like this”.

‘Didn’t take job to terminate grants’

The ruling comes almost a week after Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), admitted that the Trump administration had gone too far in slashing biomedical research grants and said efforts were under way to restore some of the funding

Bhattacharya made the remarks Tuesday during a Senate committee hearing examining both recent cuts to his agency and deeper reductions proposed by the White House in next year’s budget.

“I didn’t take this job to terminate grants,” said the physician and health economist, who left a professorship at Stanford University to join the Trump administration.

“I took this job to make sure that we do the research that advances the health needs of the American people,” he said, adding that he had created an appeals process for scientists and laboratories whose research was impacted, and that the NIH had already “reversed many” of the cuts.

It took Crystal Strickland years to qualify for Medicaid, which she needs for a heart condition.

Strickland, who’s unable to work due to her condition, chafed when she learned that the U.S. House has passed a bill that would impose a work requirement for many able-bodied people to get health insurance coverage through the low-cost, government-run plan for lower-income people.

“What sense does that make?” she asked. “What about the people who can’t work but can’t afford a doctor?”

The measure is part of the version of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful” bill that cleared the House last month and is now up for consideration in the Senate. Trump is seeking to have it passed by July 4.

The bill as it stands would cut taxes and government spending — and also upend portions of the nation’s social safety net.

For proponents, the ideas behind the work requirement are simple: Crack down on fraud and stand on the principle that taxpayer-provided health coverage isn’t for those who can work but aren’t. The measure includes exceptions for those who are under 19 or over 64, those with disabilities, pregnant women, main caregivers for young children, people recently released from prisons or jails — or during certain emergencies. It would apply only to adults who receive Medicaid through expansions that 40 states chose to undertake as part of the 2010 health insurance overhaul.

Many details of how the changes would work would be developed later, leaving several unknowns and causing anxiety among recipients who worry that their illnesses might not be enough to exempt them.

Advocates and sick and disabled enrollees worry — based largely on their past experience — that even those who might be exempted from work requirements under the law could still lose benefits because of increased or hard-to-meet paperwork mandates.

Benefits can be difficult to navigate even without a work requirement

Strickland, a 44-year-old former server, cook and construction worker who lives in Fairmont, North Carolina, said she could not afford to go to a doctor for years because she wasn’t able to work. She finally received a letter this month saying she would receive Medicaid coverage, she said.

“It’s already kind of tough to get on Medicaid,” said Strickland, who has lived in a tent and times and subsisted on nonperishable food thrown out by stores. “If they make it harder to get on, they’re not going to be helping.”

Steve Furman is concerned that his 43-year-old son, who has autism, could lose coverage.

The bill the House adopted would require Medicaid enrollees to show that they work, volunteer or go to school at least 80 hours a month to continue to qualify.

A disability exception would likely apply to Furman’s son, who previously worked in an eyeglasses plant in Illinois for 15 years despite behavioral issues that may have gotten him fired elsewhere.

Furman said government bureaucracies are already impossible for his son to navigate, even with help.

It took him a year to help get his son onto Arizona’s Medicaid system when they moved to Scottsdale in 2022, and it took time to set up food benefits. But he and his wife, who are retired, say they don’t have the means to support his son fully.

“Should I expect the government to take care of him?” he asked. “I don’t know, but I do expect them to have humanity.”

There’s broad reliance on Medicaid for health coverage

About 71 million adults are enrolled in Medicaid now. And most of them — around 92% — are working, caregiving, attending school or disabled. Earlier estimates of the budget bill from the Congressional Budget Office found that about 5 million people stand to lose coverage.

A KFF tracking poll conducted in May found that the enrollees come from across the political spectrum. About one-fourth are Republicans; roughly one-third are Democrats.

The poll found that about 7 in 10 adults are worried that federal spending reductions on Medicaid will lead to more uninsured people and would strain health care providers in their area. About half said they were worried reductions would hurt the ability of them or their family to get and pay for health care.

Amaya Diana, an analyst at KFF, points to work requirements launched in Arkansas and Georgia as keeping people off Medicaid without increasing employment.

Amber Bellazaire, a policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy, said the process to verify that Medicaid enrollees meet the work requirements could be a key reason people would be denied or lose eligibility.

“Massive coverage losses just due to an administrative burden rather than ineligibility is a significant concern,” she said.

One KFF poll respondent, Virginia Bell, a retiree in Starkville, Mississippi, said she’s seen sick family members struggle to get onto Medicaid, including one who died recently without coverage.

She said she doesn’t mind a work requirement for those who are able — but worries about how that would be sorted out. “It’s kind of hard to determine who needs it and who doesn’t need it,” she said.

Some people don’t if they might lose coverage with a work requirement

Lexy Mealing, 54 of Westbury, New York, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgeries, said she fears she may lose the medical benefits she has come to rely on, though people with “serious or complex” medical conditions could be granted exceptions.

She now works about 15 hours a week in “gig” jobs but isn’t sure she can work more as she deals with the physical and mental toll of the cancer.

Mealing, who used to work as a medical receptionist in a pediatric neurosurgeon’s office before her diagnosis and now volunteers for the American Cancer Society, went on Medicaid after going on short-term disability.

“I can’t even imagine going through treatments right now and surgeries and the uncertainty of just not being able to work and not have health insurance,” she said.

Felix White, who has Type I diabetes, first qualified for Medicaid after losing his job as a computer programmer several years ago.

The Oreland, Pennsylvania, man has been looking for a job, but finds that at 61, it’s hard to land one.

Medicaid, meanwhile, pays for a continuous glucose monitor and insulin and funded foot surgeries last year, including one that kept him in the hospital for 12 days.

“There’s no way I could have afforded that,” he said. “I would have lost my foot and probably died.”

Mulvihill writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

Hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer were forced to reveal that one of their guests, Yungblud, would not be appearing on the Channel 4 show

Sunday Brunch experienced an unexpected shake-up after a guest had to cancel their appearance due to medical advice.

The popular Channel 4 programme was back on the telly on Sunday (June 15), serving up its usual mix of culinary delights, banter and tunes. Presenters Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer were joined by a fresh set of celebs.

During the episode, the duo engaged in conversation with stars such as Josh Groban, Gabriel Howell, Tom Hughes, Yinka Bokinni, and Lesley Joseph, while chart-topping sensation AJ Tracey delivered a musical performance.

However, singer Yungblud was notably absent from the line-up, having been forced to withdraw from the show following his doctor’s orders.

“YUNGBLUD sadly isn’t here,” Tim announced. He elaborated: “He was going to be on last week’s show and he was ill. Then he was going to be on this week’s show and he’s ill again.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Simon contributed: “He’s sent us a sick note Tim. A little handwritten sick note.”

Tim then presented Yungblud’s forthcoming album, Idols, which featured a handwritten note on the reverse.

As Simon read out the note, he conveyed: “In summary, he said, ‘Dear Tim and Simon, I regret to inform you that I Yungblud will not be able to appear on your show this Sunday again. Doctors are insisting I spend the week horizontal.'”.

Simon disclosed: “He’s got tonsils,” before resuming with Yungblud’s note: “Enclosed is a £20 note in the hope that you will shamelessly promote my album that comes out this Friday, it’s really good.”

Last week saw Yungblud bow out, with pop and Indie sensation Jerub stepping in at the eleventh hour to fill the void.

Taking a seat for a chat on the couch with the hosts, Jerub admitted it had been a “tight squeeze” managing to pencil in his studio appearance, but he jumped at the chance when approached, eager to “make it work.”

Sunday Brunch airs every Sunday at 10am on Channel 4.

US President Trump-appointed Health Secretary and vaccine sceptic will replace panel with his own selections.

United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr has purged a 17-member panel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that provides expertise on vaccines.

Kennedy, who before taking a position in the administration of President Donald Trump was a vocal anti-vaccine activist, has said he will replace the panel with his own picks.

“Today, we are prioritising the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” Kennedy said. “The public must know that unbiased science – evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest – guides the recommendations of our health agencies.”

Kennedy’s reorganisation of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is the latest move by the Trump administration to shake up US health practices, sometimes by pushing ideas that depart strongly from the existing scientific consensus on issues such as vaccinations and fluoride.

“That’s a tragedy,” a former chief scientist of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Jesse Goodman, said of the firings.

“This is a highly professional group of scientists and physicians and others … It’s the kind of political meddling that will reduce confidence rather than increase confidence.”

The HHS said that all 17 members of the panel were selected during the administration of former President Joe Biden, and that keeping them on would have prevented Trump from choosing the majority of the panel’s members until 2028.

The department said that the ACIP will convene its next meeting on June 25-27. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves vaccinations for public use, the ACIP reviews data in public meetings before voting on whether to recommend a vaccine.

Israeli attacks at aid distribution sites sending increased number of casualties to hospitals says ICRC.

Gaza’s healthcare system is “extremely fragile” amid the ongoing Israeli war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.

The organisation said in a statement on Sunday that the enclave’s hospitals are in urgent need of protection and reinforcement amid Israel’s continued bombardment and blockade. It added that the system is facing growing pressure due to increasing casualty rates from Israeli attacks at aid points.

“In the last two weeks, the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah has had to activate its mass casualty incident procedure 12 times, receiving high numbers of patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds,” ICRC said in a statement on X on Sunday.

“An overwhelming majority of patients from the recent incidents said they had been trying to reach assistance distribution sites,” it continued.

The healthcare system in Gaza is extremely fragile. To avert preventable deaths, the services of the remaining health-care facilities must be preserved and reinforced. pic.twitter.com/LhPBz6mSpy

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) June 8, 2025

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire around aid distribution sites operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since it launched on May 27.

The organisation ousted the United Nations and other independent agencies from the aid distribution effort following an 11-week blockade of the enclave that prompted numerous warnings that many of Gaza’s people now face famine.

Gaza’s Government Media Office reported on Sunday that the death toll from events centred on the GHF aid sites had risen to 125. A further 736 are reported to have been wounded, with nine missing.

‘Increase in hostilities’

The Hamas-run office said 13 people were killed and 153 injured in the latest attacks. Israeli forces were reported to have opened fire on civilians gathered near aid distribution centres east of Rafah and Wadi Gaza Bridge, in central Gaza.

Witness Abdallah Nour al-Din told the AFP news agency that “people started gathering in the al-Alam area of Rafah” in the early morning.

“After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved towards the site and the army opened fire,” he said.

The Israeli military said it fired on people who “continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers” despite warnings.

A GHF statement said there had been no incidents “at any of our three sites” on Sunday.

‘Urgent action’

The Red Cross also expressed concern that the intensifying conflict is putting the enclave’s few functional medical facilities at risk.

“Recent days have seen an increase in hostilities around the few remaining and functional hospitals,” it said in the statement.

“This has made patient transfers between facilities increasingly challenging, and in many cases, patients cannot receive the intensive or specialized care they require.”

The ICRC warned that further loss of life is inevitable without urgent action and called for the protection of healthcare infrastructure and personnel.

“It requires taking all feasible steps to support their work, ensure their safety, and guarantee that they are not deprived of vital resources needed to carry out their work.”

June 6 (UPI) — The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Health and Benefits mobile app has achieved more than 3 million downloads, or nearly 20% of all veterans, since its launch in 2021.

The app has 1.4 million active users, according to an agency news release Friday on the 81st anniversary of D-Day, which was the Allies’ amphibious invasion of German-occupied France.

The app provides veterans access to healthcare and benefits information from their mobile phones, and features fingerprint and face recognition. Users can refill and track VA prescriptions, review appointments, review claims and appeals status, submit evidence for claims and appeals, review VA payment and direct deposit information, locate the closest VA facilities, access the Veterans Crisis Line and show proof of veteran status.

“We encourage all VA-enrolled Veterans to stay connected and informed by downloading the app,” Eddie Pool, acting assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and acting chief information officer, said in a news release.

In all, there are 15.8 million veterans, which represents 6.1% of the civilian population 18 year and older. Of those, 7.8 million served in the Gulf War era between 1990 and now, 5.6 million during the Vietnam era from 1950 to 1073, 767,000 during the Korean conflict in the 1940s and 1950s, and less than 120,000 World War II veterans, according to Pew Research in 2023.

As of 2023, 78% of veterans served during wartime.

The Department of Veterans Affairs employs approximately 482,000 people, including 500,000 workers at 170 hospitals and 1,200 local clinics in the nation’s largest health care system.

Like with other agencies, the agency is being downsized with plans to cut 83,000 jobs.

What in particular impacts LGBTQIA+ mental health and wellness?

LGBTQIA+ people face unique mental health challenges, due to persistent discrimination, social exclusion, and systemic barriers in healthcare, housing and employment. Many of us have experienced rejection, bullying, or isolation. Even within healthcare, many LGBTQIA+ individuals report poor experiences, including misgendering or a lack of cultural understanding, leading to delayed care or opting-out altogether. Mainstream services often don’t meet our community’s needs, while private therapy is financially out of reach. People with intersectional identities are often impacted more. At Queerwell we focus on prevention, creating a sense of community, belonging and empowerment – creating spaces where LGBTQIA+ people feel seen, heard, and supported to thrive.

So, who inspires you?

Firstly, I’d like to mention Maari Nastari, co-founder of Queerwell, a trans woman of colour, who we sadly lost last December. She gave 19 years of her life to providing support to LGBTQIA+ people facing homelessness, housing issues and domestic violence. Queerwell delivers its work in memory of her. Secondly, the LGBTQIA+ community also inspires me, especially those who get out of bed every day and face a world where they may experience discrimination, isolation, loneliness, anxiety and other forms of poor mental health. That is the biggest achievement – getting up and facing the world. It can be so hard for many LGBTQIA+ people, which is why Queerwell will be there for them.

How can people support Queerwell?

Queerwell is creating radical, affirming support, including therapy, coaching, and creative healing spaces that actually work for our community. We’re done waiting. With your help, we’ll build a future where every queer person gets the care they deserve. Be the change. Please donate to our #BeWell25 campaign, so that we can launch our services this summer. For example, £25 could ensure a person can access a learning space workshop or PlayShop. We want to focus on delivering our services in places where there are fewer options. You can also provide support to Queerwell as a volunteer or practitioner – all our therapists, coaches and facilitators are paid. And, you can fundraise for us.

Head to Queerwell’s website, and follow them on Instagram.

India has reported a sudden rise in COVID cases, starting from late May. Authorities said the number of active cases of the disease has surpassed 5,000.

India is the latest of a number of countries to report an uptick in COVID cases this year as, more than five years after the virus was declared a global pandemic, waves of new strains continue to emerge.

Here is what we know about the new variant of COVID and where it has spread:

How many COVID cases are there in India?

As of Thursday this week, there are 5,364 active cases in India, according to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Since January 1, more than 4,700 people have recovered from COVID in India, while 55 people have died from the virus.

Which variants are causing new cases and where?

The main coronavirus variant causing a new spread of the disease is known as NB.1.8.1. Cases caused by this variant have been reported in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Thailand, China and Hong Kong, among other countries. It is now the dominant variant in China and Hong Kong.

A second variant, LF.7, is also responsible for some of the cases in India.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it had recorded 13 cases of the NB.1.8.1 variant in England, with “small numbers” detected across the UK.

By late April, NB.1.8.1 comprised about 10.7 percent of submitted sequences globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This rose from just 2.5 percent one month before.

What do we know about the NB.1.8.1 variant?

The Omicron variant NB.1.8.1 was first detected in January this year.

It is a “recombinant” variant, which means it has arisen from the genetic mixing of two or more existing variants.

On May 23, 2025, the WHO declared the NB.1.8.1 strain a “variant under monitoring” (VUM).

According to a 2023 definition by the WHO, a VUM is a variant which has undergone genetic changes that scientists believe could potentially affect the behaviour of the virus; early data suggests that this variant can grow faster or spread more easily than others, but this has not yet been confirmed.

The evidence of the variant’s impact on health, immunity or transmission is still unclear.

Why are there so many new cases?

While the NB.1.8.1 strain is still being researched, the evidence so far suggests that the strain may spread more easily, virologist Lara Herrero wrote for The Conversation on May 28.

Researchers using lab-based models have found that of several variants tested, the new strain had the strongest ability to bind to human cell receptors. This suggests that the strain may “infect cells more efficiently than earlier strains”, Herrero wrote.

“It is more transmissible,” Subhash Verma, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, told CBS News.

What are the symptoms?

Common symptoms of the NB.1.8.1 strain include a sore throat, cough, muscle aches, fever and nasal congestion.

It can also cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and diarrhoea.

Are COVID vaccines effective against the new strain?

Vaccines remain a powerful defence against COVID infections, severe sickness, hospitalisation and death, clinicians say.

However, virologist Herrero wrote that besides spreading more easily, NB.1.8.1 may “partially sidestep” immunity gained from the vaccines or prior infection.

For now, health authorities say current COVID jabs are expected to be effective against this coronavirus variant and protect people from severe illness.

Should we be concerned?

Health experts worldwide say there is no evidence that the new strain of the coronavirus is more severe or deadly than any previous strain. However, it does appear to spread more easily.

Since COVID spreads through airborne particles and droplets, the spread of the virus can be prevented by getting tested if symptoms show, wearing a mask and social distancing, clinicians have advised.

Numbers of children requiring hospitalisation for complications due to severe malnutrition rising as WHO warns ‘health system is collapsing’.

More than 2,700 children below the age of five in Gaza have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition, marking a steep increase in the number of children suffering from the serious medical condition since screening in February, the United Nations reports.

Of almost 47,000 under-fives screened for malnutrition in the second half of May, 5.8 percent (or 2,733 children) were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition, “almost triple the proportion of children diagnosed with malnutrition” three months earlier, the UN said on Thursday.

The number of children with severe acute malnutrition requiring admission to hospital also increased by around double in May compared with earlier months, according to the report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

According to data from the Nutrition Cluster cited by OCHA, more than 16,500 children below the age of five have been detected and treated for severe acute malnutrition in Gaza since January, including 141 children with complications requiring hospitalisation.

Despite the increase in children suffering serious malnutrition and requiring hospitalisation, “there are currently only four stabilisation centres for the treatment of [severe acute malnutrition] with medical complications in the Gaza Strip,” the OCHA report states.

“Stabilisation centres in North Gaza and Rafah have been forced to suspend operations, leaving children in these areas without access to lifesaving treatment,” it adds.

The UN’s latest warning on the health of young children in Gaza comes as the Palestinian territory’s entire population deals with starvation, and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the enclave’s “health system is collapsing”.

Issuing an appeal for the “urgent protection” of two of Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, the WHO said the “Nasser Medical Complex, the most important referral hospital left in Gaza, and Al-Amal Hospital are at risk of becoming non-functional”.

“The relentless and systematic decimation of hospitals in Gaza has been going on for too long. It must end immediately,” the WHO said in a statement.

“WHO calls for urgent protection of Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital to ensure they remain accessible, functional and safe from attacks and hostilities,” it said.

“Patients seeking refuge and care to save their lives must not risk losing them trying to reach hospitals.”

UN experts, medical officials in Gaza, as well as medical charities, have long accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting health workers and medical facilities in Gaza in what has been described as a deliberate attempt to make conditions of life unliveable for the Palestinian population in the Strip.

WHO calls for urgent protection of Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital in the Gaza Strip

WHO warns that the #Gaza Strip’s health system is collapsing, with Nasser Medical Complex, the most important referral hospital left in Gaza, and Al-Amal Hospital at risk of becoming… pic.twitter.com/Rd3ZjASuBp

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 5, 2025

Vietnam’s declining birthrate is most pronounced in urban areas, while nationally, male births still outnumber female.

Vietnam has scrapped its longstanding two-child policy as it aims to reverse its declining birthrate and ease the pressure from an ageing society.

All restrictions were removed this week, and couples will be free to have as many children as they choose, according to Vietnamese media.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that a future shrinking population “threatens Vietnam’s sustainable economic and social development, as well as its national security and defence in the long term,” the Hanoi Times reported.

Between 1999 and 2022, Vietnam’s birthrate was about 2.1 children per woman, the replacement rate needed to keep the population from shrinking, but the rate has started to fall, the news outlet said.

In 2024, the country’s birthrate reached a record low of 1.91 children per woman.

Regional neighbours like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong all have declining birthrates, but their economies are more advanced than Vietnam’s.

Vietnam’s working-age population is expected to peak around 2040, according to the World Bank, and it aims to avoid the trap of “getting old before it gets rich”.

The country’s communist government introduced the two-child policy in 1988 to ensure it had adequate resources as it transitioned from a planned to a market economy. At the time, Vietnam was also still overcoming the effects of decades of war.

Vietnam’s two-child policy was most strictly enforced with members of Vietnam’s Communist Party, according to the Associated Press, but families everywhere could lose out on government subsidies and assistance if they had a third or fourth child.

As well as a declining birthrate, Vietnam is also facing significant imbalances across different regions and social groups, the Ministry of Health said.

The declining birthrate is most pronounced in urban areas such as Ho Chi Minh and the capital Hanoi, where the cost of living is highest. But there are also significant disparities in gender. Last year, Vietnam’s sex ratio at birth was 111 boys to every 100 girls.

The disparity between male and female births is most pronounced in North Vietnam’s Red River Delta and the Northern Midlands and Mountains, according to the World Bank, and lowest in the Central Highlands and Mekong River Delta.

Vietnam prohibits doctors from telling parents the sex of their children to curb sex-selective abortions, but the practice continues, with doctors communicating via coded words, according to Vietnamese media.

Left unchecked, the General Statistics Office warned there could be a “surplus of 1.5 million men aged 15-49 by 2039, rising to 2.5 million by 2059”.

In a bid to reverse this trend, the Health Ministry separately proposed tripling the fine for “foetal gender selection” to about $3,800.

MICHAEL Schumacher’s former boss has given rare insight into the F1 legend’s condition – 12 years after the skiing accident that changed his life.

While the German seven-time world champion, now 56, hasn’t been seen in public since 2013, his Benetton manager says he speaks often with Schumacher’s family.

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Flavio Briatore, 75, led the Benetton F1 team during Schumacher’s breakthrough years, playing a key role in his first two world championships.

Briatore appeared to confirm to an Italian newspaper that Schumacher is bed-bound, amid scarce details of his condition due to the family’s commitment to privacy.

“If I close my eyes,” he told Corriere della Sera, “I see him smiling after a victory.

“I prefer to remember him like that rather than him just lying on a bed. Corinna and I talk often, though.”

Briatore’s update follows a claim by his ex-wife Elisabetta Gregoraci, who said: “Michael doesn’t speak, he communicates with his eyes.

“Only three people can visit him and I know who they are.”

Claims that Schumacher can no longer speak were echoed by his son Mick in a 2021 Netflix documentary about his father’s life.

The 26-year-old driver said: “I think dad and me, we would understand each other now in a different way now.”

In the 2021 documentary, Corinna gave a rare update, revealing Schumacher is still undergoing rehabilitation and is “different, but here” following his life-changing injuries.

In April, Schumacher signed a charity helmet with help from Corinna.

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The helmet will be auctioned to raise money for Stewart’s charity Race Against Dementia.

Johnny Herbert, Schumacher’s teammate at Benetton between 1994 to 1995, described the signature as an “emotional” moment.

He told FastSlots: “It’s wonderful news that Michael Schumacher signed Jackie Stewart‘s helmet. It was a wonderful moment.

“We haven’t seen something emotional like this in years, and hopefully, it’s a sign. 

“Hopefully, Michael is on the mend. It’s been a long, horrible journey for the family, and maybe we’ll hopefully see him in the F1 paddock soon.”

Schumacher is one of the most successful F1 drivers of all time, winning world titles in 1994, 1995 and five consecutive years from 2000 to 2004.

He also racked up 71 fastest laps and 155 podiums during his racing career.

When asked who the greatest driver of all time is, Briatore told Corriere de Sera: “I don’t know who the greatest is, because we’ve had Schumacher, Senna, Alonso.

“Now, the number one is definitely (Max) Verstappen. I have two cars at Alpine, so I would like to have two Verstappens.”

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June 3 (UPI) — At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured early Tuesday near an aid hub run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

The Hamas-run ministry said in a social media update that the people were waiting at an area designated as an aid distribution point in Rafah and that 27 bodies and 90 injured had been brought to hospitals, “some of them in a critical condition.”

The statement did not say how the victims were killed and injured, but the incident follows the deaths of at least 31 Palestinians and injuring of more than 200 after Israel Defense Forces allegedly opened fire on a crowd at the same location Sunday.

The IDF said on its official account on X on Tuesday that troops fired warning shots to deter “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated routes” leading to the aid site. When the suspects failed to turn back, the soldiers directed additional fire toward individuals continuing to advance toward their positions.

The IDF said it was aware of Tuesday’s reports of casualties and was looking into the details.

“The IDF allows the American Civil Organization (GHF) to operate independently in order to enable the distribution of aid to the Gazan residents — and not to Hamas. IDF troops are not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites. The warning shots were fired approximately half a kilometer away from the humanitarian aid distribution site toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops in such a way that posed a threat to them,” the military’s statement read.

However, an overseas volunteer doctor working in a nearby hospital told the BBC it had been “total carnage” since just before 4 a.m. local time and that they had been deluged with injured people.

On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an urgent, independent probe into the violence that reportedly occurred Sunday.

“I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” he said.

The IDF has categorically denied any involvement in Sunday’s incident, insisting an initial investigation had found “the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site.”

The Gaza Health Foundation, set up to run the new U.S.-Israeli mechanism for delivering humanitarian assistance into Gaza, which bypasses the United Nations and other aid agencies, also denied the reports of Sunday’s violence, saying aid had been distributed without incident and that there had been no injuries or fatalities.

However, GHF has been plagued by problems since it began operations in Gaza a week ago with thousands of hungry Gazans swamping its Tel al-Sultan Secure Distribution Site One from day one.

The scheme aims to prevent aid from allegedly being stolen and resold by Hamas to fund its military operations against Israel, but the U.N. and legacy aid agencies have roundly condemned it as being in breach of humanitarian ethics and “weaponizing” the issue of aid.

GHF’s two top officials, Executive Director and former U.S. Marine Jake Wood and Chief Operating Officer David Burke, both resigned in the days before the scheme began operating.

Burke has not publicly commented on his decision, but Wood said he resigned because the scheme was out of step with the key humanitarian principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”

People asked to avoid swarms of stinging insects after truck hauling 250 million bees rolls over near the Canadian border.

A truck carrying millions of honeybees has overturned in the northwestern United States, prompting emergency warnings from local authorities.

The truck, carrying approximately 31,751kg (70,000 pounds) of active beehives, overturned on Friday in Washington state’s Whatcom County – a rural area near the Canadian border, about 48km (30 miles) south of Vancouver.

“250 million bees are now loose,” the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) announced on its official social media page. “Avoid the area due to the potential of bee escaping and swarming.”

Authorities sealed off parts of the area and urged the public to keep a safe distance of at least 200 yards (182 metres) as officials and bee experts helped recover, restore and reset the hives, according to the sheriff’s office.

The goal, officials said, is to safely re-hive the bees and help them locate their queens, a process that could take up to 48 hours.

While some beekeepers focus solely on honey production, many others lease their hives to farmers who rely on bees to pollinate their crops. The loss of millions of bees, even temporarily, could threaten the productivity of nearby farms during the growing season.

“While there is no general health risk to the public, anyone who is allergic to bee stings or has concerns should check the State Department of Health webpage on bees and wasps,” WCSO said.

Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating more than 100 crops including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus and melons. Bees and other pollinators have been declining for years, and experts blame insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply.

In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly sponsored the first “World Bee Day” on May 20 to bring attention to the bees’ plight.

Beekeepers often transport millions of bees from one location to another because leaving them in one location for too long can deplete resources for other pollinators, The Seattle Times newspaper reported.

In 2015, 14 million bees escaped a truck north of Seattle on Interstate 5 and started stinging people, the newspaper reported at the time.

Obeid hospital suffers severe damage in paramilitary assault, worsening health crisis in Sudan’s civil war.

At least six people have been killed in a suspected drone attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a hospital in southern Sudan, the latest civilian facility targeted in the brutal civil war, officials and rights advocates have said.

The Emergency Lawyers, a rights group, blamed the RSF for the attack on Friday on the Obeid International Hospital, al-Dhaman, in Obeid, the capital city of North Kordofan province. At least 15 others were wounded in the attack, it said.

In a statement on social media, the hospital said the attack resulted in severe damage to its main building. Services at the hospital, the main medical facility serving the region, were suspended until further notice, it said.

A Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) source told the AFP news agency that the bombardment also hit a second hospital in the city centre.

The city is a key staging post on the army’s supply route to the west, where the besieged city of el-Fasher is the only state capital in the vast Darfur region still under the army-led government’s control.

El-Fasher has witnessed attritional fighting between SAF and RSF since May 2024, despite international warnings about the risks of violence in a city that serves as a key humanitarian hub for the five Darfur states.

Cholera outbreak

Adding to humanitarian woes on the ground, the Health Ministry in Khartoum state on Thursday reported 942 new cholera infections and 25 deaths the previous day, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths the day before.

Aid workers say the effort to control the cholera outbreak is deteriorating due to the near-total collapse of health services, with about 90 percent of hospitals in key warzones no longer operational.

Since August 2024, Sudan has reported more than 65,000 suspected cholera cases and at least 1,700 deaths across 12 of its 18 states. Khartoum alone has seen 7,700 cases and 185 deaths, including more than 1,000 infections in children under five, as it contends with more than two years of fighting between the army and the RSF.

“Sudan urgently needs an increase in aid to help combat the cholera outbreak, hundreds of cases per day, which has even exceeded the more than 1000 cases per day,” Jean-Nicolas Armstrong Dangelser, Doctors Without Borders’s, known by its French initials MSF, emergency coordinator in Sudan, told Al Jazeera.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg, because nobody has the full picture at the moment, unfortunately,” Dangelser said.

Fighting in the al-Salha district, south of Ondurman, where there was a pocket of people sick with cholera, “greatly contributed” to the spread of the disease, said Dangelser. The army said on May 19 it had seized control of the al-Salha district, considered the last stronghold of the RSF in Khartoum State.

“Now it’s not just the returnees to Khartoum that are exacerbating the situation because of the devastated water system and the lack of healthcare, but it’s also now spreading to Darfur, where people have been displaced by fighting,” Dangelser added.

Violence and death follow Sudanese fleeing the war beyond their country’s borders. On Friday, 11 Sudanese refugees and a Libyan driver were killed in a car crash in the desert in Libya, according to local authorities.

Since fighting between the RSF and SAF broke out in April 2023, the UN has said 11 million people have been forced out of their homes, including 250,000 who have escaped into neighbouring Libya.

Tens of thousands have been killed in the civil war.

The White House said the citation errors were ‘formatting issues’ that did not detract from the report’s importance.

The United States government has said it will amend a flagship report on children’s health that was found to have cited non-existent studies.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that any citation errors were due to “formatting issues” and would be updated. The problems with the report will do little to assuage concerns over President Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services Secretary.

The issues with the report, compiled and published last week by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, were revealed by digital news outlet NOTUS. It found that seven studies referenced did not exist, while there were also broken links and “misstated conclusions”.

Leavitt insisted that the problems do “not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government”.

The report found that processed food, chemicals, stress and the overprescription of medications and vaccines could be factors behind chronic illness in children, citing more than 500 studies.

However, authors credited with producing some of those studies said that they were not part of the research, or that the studies did not exist.

Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during COVID-19, told the AFP news agency that the paper was “not one of our studies” and “doesn’t appear to be a study that exists at all”.

The citation for the report included a link to an article in the peer-reviewed JAMA Paediatrics Medical Review that was broken. A spokesperson for the JAMA Network said that the article referenced “was not published in JAMA Paediatrics or in any JAMA Network journal”.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday slammed the report as “rife with misinformation”, accusing Kennedy’s agency of “justifying its policy priorities with studies and sources that do not exist”.

Kennedy’s approval as health secretary in February stirred significant controversy. He previously spent decades sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines, raising concerns within the scientific and medical communities over the policies he would pursue.

Since taking the role, he has fired thousands of workers at federal health agencies and cut billions of dollars from biomedical research spending.

“The substance of the MAHA report remains the same – a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.

In a one-minute video, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr revoked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that healthy children and healthy pregnant women be vaccinated for COVID-19, leaving some experts concerned and others unsure about the policy’s details.

Kennedy was joined in the video, posted on May 27 on X, by Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya.

Kennedy, who was tapped by President Donald Trump after a years-long embrace of vaccine conspiracy theories, did not make it clear whether he was referring to a recommendation for children or pregnant women getting vaccinated for the first time, for getting subsequent booster shots, or both. Days after the announcement, HHS’s website provided no clarity, saying, “COVID-19 vaccines are available to everyone 6 months and older. Getting vaccinated is the best way to help protect people from COVID-19.” A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage dated January 7 – before Kennedy was secretary – provided a similar broad vaccine endorsement.

Some experts say the low rates of serious COVID-19 cases among children justify tightening the federal vaccine recommendation. Others say that the move will make it harder to get vaccinated and cause preventable serious illnesses.

Kennedy broke from norms by not waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to vote on vaccine guidance at a scheduled June meeting.

Recommending against vaccination for certain groups could make it harder for most children and pregnant women to get the shot, if insurers decide not to cover COVID-19 shots for those groups. Immunization rates are already low, with 13 percent of children and 14.4 percent of pregnant women up to date with the 2024-25 edition of the COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC found in late April.

We fact-checked the three federal health officials’ comments with health experts.

Kennedy said child vaccine boosters lacked clinical data

Kennedy said, “Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another COVID shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.”

In recent years, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices – a group of outside experts that advises the CDC on who should be vaccinated and how often – has recommended annual boosters for healthy children who have already received COVID-19 vaccines.

The committee made this recommendation without also recommending that every annual iteration of the vaccine undergo new rounds of clinical trials before being used, said Dr William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (The vaccine had been approved by the FDA for safety and efficacy early in the pandemic.) The panel concluded that the coronavirus vaccine operated in the same way as the annual flu vaccine, which has not required repeated clinical trials, said Schaffner, a former committee member and current adviser.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians also recommended COVID-19 vaccinations for children and did not urge new clinical trials.

Kids generally don’t need the vaccination, FDA chief said

Makary said, “There’s no evidence healthy kids need” the vaccine.

This is disputed. Most children will not face serious illness from COVID-19, but a small fraction will. Experts draw different lines when deciding how widespread the vaccination programme needs to be, given this scale of risk.

During the 2024-25 COVID-19 season, children and adolescents age 17 and younger comprised about 4 percent of COVID-19-associated hospitalisations. The relatively small number of serious cases among children has driven the belief among some scientists that the universal vaccination recommendation is too broad.

However, among all children, rates of COVID-19-associated hospitalisations were highest among infants less than six months old.

“With 4 million new children born every year with no exposure to COVID, young children have rates of disease similar to the disease rates in people older than 65,” Schaffner said, citing a September 2024 article on the CDC’s website.

COVID-19 was among the top 10 causes of death in children during the worst of the pandemic between 2020 and 2022, said Tara C Smith, a Kent State University epidemiologist. “Though we may no longer be at that stage … we vaccinate for influenza, so why not continue to do so for COVID?”

Some doctors are concerned about the lingering syndrome known as long COVID, about which less is known, especially among children.

The outside advisory committees and the medical academies found this level of serious disease to be sufficient to recommend continued annual vaccinations.

Makary said this policy is similar to those in other countries

Makary was accurate when he said that “most countries have stopped recommending” routine COVID-19 vaccination for children.

“Many countries will only offer the COVID vaccine to children if they have underlying health conditions or are immunocompromised,” said Brooke Nichols, a Boston University associate professor of global health.

Makary co-wrote a May 20 article that included a list of booster recommendations in Canada, Europe and Australia. It said in most countries, the recommendation was to vaccinate older people or those at high risk.

Most countries have taken this course, Schaffner said, because “by now, 95 percent of us have had experience with COVID, either through the vaccine or through illness or both. And second, the current variants are thought to be much milder than some of the earlier variants.”

The World Health Organization in 2024 recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for children with health risks who had never been vaccinated. For children and adolescents who had previously been vaccinated, it did not routinely recommend revaccination.

The European Medicines Agency recommended the BioNtech Pfizer vaccine for children over the age of five years and said the use of the vaccine for children is effective and safe. Euronews reported that the agency issued its recommendation in November 2021 and later recommended the Moderna vaccine for children ages 12 to 17.

In the United Kingdom, “only older people or those with specific diseases or illnesses making them susceptible to severe COVID were recommended to get boosters, and as a result, uptake in those groups was actually higher than in the US,” where outreach and advertising for the vaccinations focused on children as well as older people, said Babak Javid, an associate professor in the division of experimental medicine at the University of California-San Francisco.

The New York Times found that in Europe “many countries do not recommend the vaccines for healthy children under 5, but the shots are approved for everyone 6 months and older,” meaning that they can be safely used by anyone who’s at least six months old.

Doctors say the vaccine protects pregnant women

Experts disagreed with Kennedy’s recommendation against vaccinating pregnant women, saying the vaccine protects pregnant women and their infants.

Steven J Fleischman, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists president, said, “It is very clear that COVID-19 infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability, and it can cause devastating consequences for families. In fact, growing evidence shows just how much vaccination during pregnancy protects the infant after birth, with the vast majority of hospitalised infants less than six months of age – those who are not yet eligible for vaccination – born to unvaccinated mothers.”

After a vaccination, antibodies reach the fetus. The doctors’ group said there is no evidence the vaccine creates adverse effects for either mother or the fetus, although fever or pain at the injection site are possible.

The federal government in May provided conflicting information about the vaccine and pregnancy.

In Makary’s May 20 article, he and his co-author included pregnancy on the CDC’s 2025 list of underlying medical conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

“They literally contradicted themselves over the course of a couple of days,” said Dr Peter Hotez, Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development co-director. “It appears RFK Jr reversed his own FDA’s decision.”

Following the May 27 video announcement, Makary told NBC that the decision about vaccination should be between a pregnant woman and her doctor.

A 2024 review of 67 studies found that fully vaccinated pregnant women had a 61 percent lower likelihood of a COVID-19 infection during pregnancy.

What’s next?

In its June meeting, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices might move towards less sweeping recommendations for vaccinating children, closer to those that Kennedy enacted.

“If you listened to the discussions in the most recent previous meeting, they very much seemed to be moving in a more targeted approach,” Schaffner said.

The question of pregnant women may be one where the advisory committees may recommend more flexibility with vaccine usage than what Kennedy’s video statement seems to suggest, Schaffner said.

Other areas where the panels could back greater flexibility could be for otherwise healthy people who serve as caregivers or who live with more vulnerable people who are advanced in age or are immunocompromised.