Last week, U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine activist, to head the Department of Health and Human Services. To unpack what Kennedy's leadership could mean for vaccine access and children's health, TGH Managing Editor Nsikan Akpan sits down with Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. They discussed the origins of Kennedy's stances and what government levers he could pull to influence vaccine policy.
Turning to another hot topic in U.S. politics, Caroline Nobo, executive director Yale Law School's Justice Collaboratory, emphasizes the roles community leaders, health-care workers, and progressive prosecutors can play in breaking cycles of gun violence.
Moving on to the twenty-ninth Conference of the Parties (COP29), journalist Anita Makri reports on how experts and climate activists want to focus more attention on climate change's economic losses linked to health, as well as the mixed expectations of what the COP process can achieve.
As countries head into respiratory disease season, George Washington University medical student Uzma Rentia emphasizes the importance of vaccines and injectable antibodies for fighting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which can prevent fatal infections in infants and young children. Though the drugs are widely available in high-income countries, infants in low- or middle-income countries, where 95% of RSV-related deaths occur, are left behind.
To wrap up the issue, development economist Luis E. Banegas reflects on his own challenges navigating the U.S. health-care system and unpacks the social and institutional barriers that often discourage men from seeking mental health services.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
