Margaret Manto

Trump Tries to Rebrand His War With Iran as a ‘Little Excursion’ The president notably omitted the word “war” from his remarks, despite having described the conflict with Iran that way for more than a week.

Between his lengthy speech to House Republicans and subsequent news conference yesterday, President Trump didn’t use the word war once.

Instead, he referred to the conflict in Iran as “a little excursion.”

www.notus.org/defense/trum...

RFK Jr.'s MAHA Allies Call to Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Inside the MAHA movement’s Washington meetup.

“The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated."

“The flu shot has given 1,900,000 Americans Alzheimer’s."

“Vaccines are causing autism."

Inside an afternoon with the MAHA Institute:

FEMA Staff Are Happy to See Kristi Noem Go “Anyone is better than that dog murderer,” a longtime FEMA employee said.

"Anyone's better than that dog murderer."

FEMA staff are rejoicing at Kristi Noem's ouster. I've had folks asking me for months if I knew when she might get fired.

That day is finally here, and they are delighted.

Presidential Libraries Are Black Boxes — And Not Just Trump’s Funding disclosure for these institutions is sometimes inconsistent, incomplete or inaccurate, leaving the public in the dark.

Some corporate donors didn’t actually donate. Others did, but didn’t disclose as lobbying law required. The law, one government watchdog said, is “inadequate to the task.”

@notus.com cracks open the black boxes that are presidential libraries: www.notus.org/money/presid...

NIH Says It Will No Longer Recognize the Research Fellows’ Union NIH leadership said the union “should never have been certified,” in an email to the union’s leadership.

NEW: The NIH says it will no longer recognize a union of early-career researchers because it does not believe they are "employees" who are "employed in an agency."

"The NIH/UAW bargaining unit should never have been certified," NIH HR wrote.

www.notus.org/health-scien...

RFK Jr.’s New Vaccine Committee Appointee Has Called to ‘#StopTheShots’ Angelina Farella, a Texas-based pediatrician, has also called the RSV vaccine an “utter failure.”

Angie Farella, a Texas-based pediatrician, has called the RSV vaccine an "utter failure" and said the COVID-19 vaccine is "not safe nor is it effective.” On Friday, RFK Jr. appointed her to the CDC's vaccine recommendation committee. New from me:
www.notus.org/health-scien...

HHS Tells Employees to Stop Using Anthropic’s Claude “This decision, if confirmed, will basically wipe out 18 months of efforts,” one FDA employee said.

NEW: HHS tells its employees to stop using Anthropic's AI tool, Claude www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Surgeon General Nominee Casey Means Sidesteps Vaccine Questions Senators grilled Means about her positions on vaccines during her confirmation hearing. She said vaccines have “not been part of my message.”

"I am not here to complicate the issue on vaccines, " surgeon general nominee Casey Means told senators in her confirmation hearing this morning. Read more:
www.notus.org/health-scien...

FDA’s Vaccine Upheaval Has Pharma Worried About the Flu Shot The FDA is set to release new guidance on flu shot clinical trials.

“No one’s told me at this point, ‘We’re getting out of flu, getting out of vaccines,’ but people are certainly concerned about what this means.”

Pharma is on the lookout for new guidance from the FDA on flu shots — new from me:
www.notus.org/health-scien...

'Not Reliable': HHS Keeps Citing Unreviewed Vaccine Trial Proposals in Its Call for 'Better Science' Leading vaccine researchers tell NOTUS that the proposed vaccine trials could lead to unreliable conclusions on already-approved vaccines.

HHS keeps citing an unreviewed paper that proposes some... interesting ways to re-test vaccines. We asked scientists to review it: www.notus.org/health-scien...

TrumpRx Is Live. It Has 43 Medications on It. The website has been touted by the Trump administration as a key part of its plan to lower drug costs.

TrumpRx is live: www.notus.org/healthcare/t...

Federal Data Is Disappearing The Trump administration has disrupted data collection on everything from homeland security, maternal mortality, hunger, drug use, education, disaster preparation and the economy.

We found so many examples of missing federal government data that we couldn’t put them all in this story.

“The status quo was, the federal government is going to collect and disseminate data. That is no longer a reasonable assumption.”

Pharmaceutical Companies Are Spending Big Money on Weight-Loss Drug Lobbying The federal government pushed makers of GLP-1 medications to lower their prices this year.

New: Pharmaceutical companies spent big on weight loss drug lobbying last year, as the federal government scrutinized their prices. www.notus.org/health-scien...

Guinea-Bissau Suspends U.S.-Backed Hepatitis B Vaccine Trial Pending Review The Trump administration has previously said the trial would continue despite the Africa CDC saying it was canceled, calling it a “fake” organization.

NEWS: The Ministry of Health of Guinea-Bissau has suspended a CDC-backed trial on the hepatitis B vaccine, pending further review. www.notus.org/healthcare/g...

You'll be able to read my reporting from West Virginia on @notus.com later this year. A big thank you to my editors for their support!!

Eight Reporters Named as JAWS 2026 Health Journalism Fellows — JAWS Grandville, MI, January 08, 2026 – Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS), the premier not-for-profit organization dedicated to professional growth and empowerment of women journalists, has awarded th...

Some personal news - I'm a 2026 Health Journalism Fellow with the Journalism and Women Symposium. My project focuses on how changing immunization recommendations impact kids in West Virginia, esp those who rely on federally funded vaccines. More to come!

www.jaws.org/news/eight-r...

U.S.-Backed West African Vaccine Study Draws Scrutiny From WHO, UNICEF Researchers said news reports about the study sparked concerns among international public health groups. “I’m not doing political research,” one researcher told NOTUS.

Researchers leading a controversial CDC-backed study on the Hepatitis B vaccine met with the WHO and UNICEF this week.

While the study was meant to begin this month, one researcher told NOTUS they “didn’t have an idea yet when we will start.”

www.notus.org/health-scien...

U.S.-Backed West African Vaccine Study Draws Scrutiny From WHO, UNICEF Researchers said news reports about the study sparked concerns among international public health groups. “I’m not doing political research,” one researcher told NOTUS.

NEWS: The WHO and UNICEF are scrutinizing a CDC-backed study on the effects of the hepatitis B vaccine in Africa, researchers running the study told NOTUS. www.notus.org/health-scien...

The CDC Is Cutting the Vaccine Schedule for Kids The government will no longer include vaccines for rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, COVID-19 or the flu on the standard schedule for children.

The CDC will no longer explicitly recommend children get vaccinated for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, reducing the number of diseases covered by the childhood immunization schedule from 17 to 11.

www.notus.org/health-scien...

The CDC Is Cutting the Vaccine Schedule for Kids The government will no longer include vaccines for rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, COVID-19 or the flu on the standard schedule for children.

Here is an updated link: www.notus.org/health-scien...

The CDC Is Cutting the Vaccine Schedule for Kids by Nearly Half The government will no longer include vaccines for rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, COVID-19 or the flu on the standard schedule for children.

NEWS: The CDC is cutting the childhood vaccine schedule by nearly half.

“We hope this change will help address decreased uptake of vaccines, especially the most important diseases, and increase trust in public health,” a senior administration official said.

www.notus.org/healthcare/c...

How MAHA Could Grow Its Reach Through Health Savings Accounts The Department of Health and Human Services could exert influence over what qualifies under HSA plans, and some of its top officials have expressed interest in expanding them.

NEW: MAHA-coded wellness companies have already made it possible for you to buy a tax-free sauna. Now HSA advocates within HHS could help expand their market.

W/ @emilykennard.bsky.social:

www.notus.org/health-scien...

Here is the group's statement where they say infants will either receive the hep b vaccine at birth or follow the current policy in Guinea-Bissau. Looks like I forgot to link to it in my story, thank you for flagging! www.bandim.org/hepatitis-b-...

HHS Wants to Cut Funds to Hospitals that Provide Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth RFK Jr. announced two proposed regulations that would ban Medicaid and Medicaid funds from going to hospitals treating trans kids.

News: The Trump admin proposed rules to ban Medicaid from being used on gender-affirming care for trans youth

Over 185K trans people are on Medicaid

This comes a day after the House passed a bill criminalizing gender-affirming care

w/ @margaretmanto.bsky.social
www.notus.org/healthcare/h...

CDC to Fund Controversial Study in West Africa on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines The study prompted swift outcry from scientists in the U.S. who say it’s “unethical.”

NEWS: The CDC is sending $1.6 million to a Danish vaccine research group with ties to the U.S. anti-vaccine movement.

The group will study the effects of the Hepatitis B vaccine in infants -- in West Africa.

www.notus.org/health-scien...

Newborn hepatitis B vaccine: Will hospitals follow new guidance? Healthbeat asked 10 of the nation's largest maternity hospitals and systems that deliver the most babies about their policies for giving hepatitis B vaccines at birth and whether they are changing. Mo...

Maternity hospitals will now play a significant role in whether babies will universally be vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth. But many of the largest ones won’t say how they are responding to a controversial change in federal guidance. www.healthbeat.org/2025/12/18/h... #medsky #publichealth

NIH Pauses New Funding for Grants That Include ‘Health Equity,’ ‘Structural Racism,’ Pending Review New guidance to the agency dictates staff must use a “text analysis tool” to identify programs deemed “misaligned” with the administration.

NEWS: NIH will pause new funding for grants that include "misaligned" terms like "health equity" and "structural racism."

Agency staff are required to use a "computational text analysis tool" to identify grants that include the unsanctioned terms.

www.notus.org/health-scien...

'Sloppy' Code and Accessibility Issues: The Trouble With Trump's Silicon Valley-Inspired Web Design Project “Some of these sites feel like another round of ‘move fast and break things,’” a former federal web designer told NOTUS.

A piece in which @emilykennard.bsky.social and I attempt to answer the question: Why do all the new .gov websites look like that?

www.notus.org/trump-white-...

CDC Quietly Turned Off Its Vaccine Search Tool. It’s Not Clear When It’s Coming Back. “I have heard that they are planning to ‘update it’ and shudder to think what that will mean,” Demetre Daskalakis, a former member of CDC leadership, told NOTUS.

Vaccines.gov, the CDC's vaccination site search engine, got a MAHA makeover in June. Then it stopped working altogether.

New from me:

www.notus.org/health-scien...

NEWS: RFK Jr. is scheduled to speak at GW University next Monday, Nov. 17. The "Fireside Chat with Secretary Kennedy" will be hosted by TPUSA and GW College Republicans, and currently isn't being publicly advertised.