“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired a top official with the National Institutes of Health who blew the whistle on internal clashes over vaccine research in the early months of the Trump administration,” CBS News reports.

Punchbowl News: “The idea is that if Republicans just give Democrats a commitment to take up and pass a bill to extend the enhanced Obamacare tax credits at some point this fall, then Democrats will help provide the 60 votes needed for the House-passed Nov. 21 CR.”

“But Republicans won’t do it. Why? Because renewing the tax credit divides Republicans. Neither Speaker Mike Johnson nor Senate Majority Leader John Thune can or will commit to moving any such measure.”

For members: A Shutdown With No Clear Exit Ramp

“The health insurance subsidies at the center of the U.S. government shutdown fight disproportionately benefit areas of the country represented by Republican lawmakers, posing a potential vulnerability for Donald Trump’s party in next year’s midterm congressional elections,” Bloomberg reports.

“Twelve million Americans in Republican-held U.S. House districts are covered by health plans purchased through Affordable Care Act exchanges versus nine million living in Democratic-held districts. Of the 75 districts where at least 10% of the people are enrolled in Obamacare policies, 47 are represented by Republicans in the House.”

“Federal officials have approved another generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, a regulatory formality that quickly triggered pushback from anti-abortion groups and politicians aligned with the Trump administration,” the AP reports.

Washington Post: “The administration’s approval of the drug on Tuesday comes less than two weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said the department was conducting a review of the safety of abortion pills, a decision that antiabortion activists welcomed.”

“Vice President JD Vance has an offer for Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown,” Politico reports.

“Join onto the Republicans’ continuing resolution, and he’ll head to the Capitol ‘right now’ to work with Democrats on extending insurance subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.”

Said Vance: “But only after they’ve reopened the government. You can’t reward this exercise in hostage taking.”

“Pfizer’s decision to announce a deal with the Trump administration on drug prices Tuesday caused an uproar within much of the pharmaceutical industry, most of which was caught off guard by the announcement,” Axios reports.

“The White House is planning to unveil a direct-to-consumer website for Americans to buy drugs, dubbed TrumpRx, as well as announce that Pfizer plans to lower prices on several of its medications in the U.S.,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“TrumpRx would allow people to pay cash for certain drugs directly from a government website, at a discounted price negotiated by the government. It’s unclear how many drugs would be offered, or whether the website would be useful for the majority of Americans who are already covered by private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.”

“The number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants,” Reuters reports.

“So far this year, about 10% fewer people have been prosecuted for drug violations compared to the same period of 2024, court records show, a drop of about 1,200 cases and the slowest rate since at least the late 1990s. The pullback was more dramatic for the types of conspiracy and money-laundering cases often used to pursue higher-level traffickers. The number of people charged with money-laundering dropped by 24%, according to Reuters’ analysis.”

“President Donald Trump’s Monday comments about autism and public health were filled with misinformation that left many doctors aghast – and not just about Tylenol,” CNN reports.

“Most of the media coverage of Trump’s press conference centered around his repeated advice to pregnant Americans to try to avoid taking Tylenol, which he based on a supposed link to autism that has not been proven. But the president also made a series of additional comments about autism, vaccines, and hepatitis B that ranged from unproven to misleading to false.”

President Trump posted unsupported medical advice telling pregnant women and young children not to take Tylenol, and gave unfounded recommendations on children’s vaccines.

“President Donald Trump announced Thursday that brand-name or patented pharmaceutical products will be subject to a 100% tariff starting October 1 – unless the drugmaker is building a manufacturing plant in the US,” CNN reports.

“Trump has been promising for months to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, which avoided tariffs during his first term. The president sees tariffs as a way to pressure drug manufacturers to ramp up production in the US and to strengthen the supply chain for essential medicines.”

“We have people in power making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproven. The degree to which those comments can undermine public health, do harm to women who are pregnant, create anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic – is violence against the truth.”

— Barack Obama, on X.

Vice President JD Vance said that pregnant women should lean on their doctor for advice on whether to take Tylenol after President Trump earlier this week said pregnant women should “fight like hell not to take it” because of potential links to autism, The Hill reports.

Less than 24 hours after President Trump explicitly told pregnant women not to take Tylenol, Dr. Mehmet Oz completely walked back that advice, Mediaite reports.

Said Oz: “So the message is not, ‘Never take Tylenol.’ It’s, ‘Take Tylenol judiciously.’ Take it by talking with your doctor.” 

“One of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. is now centered in bordering areas of southwestern Utah and Arizona,” NBC News reports.

“In Southwest Utah, all but one of the 23 confirmed cases are among unvaccinated, school-age kids, the Southwest Utah Public Health Department reported. In Mohave County, Arizona, which health officials believe is connected to the Utah outbreak, there have been 42 confirmed cases of the highly contagious virus.”

CNN: “The rambling display stunned administration officials who had expected the event to highlight a cautious new warning on Tylenol, $50 million investment in further autism research and approval of a potential treatment — only to watch Trump declare that ‘taking Tylenol is not good’ and then veer into vaccine skepticism.”

“The administration officials and advisers privately acknowledged that the president’s blanket assertions had gone well beyond the underlying evidence he’d been presented with in prior days.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a licensed doctor, pushed back on President Trump advising pregnant women not to take acetaminophen due to an alleged link to autism in children, The Hill reports.

Said Cassidy: “The preponderance of evidence shows that this is not the case.”