- HHS to remove recommendation for infant Hepatitis B vaccine, Trump asks RFK to fast-track a revamp of entire childhood vaccine schedule. The majority of Hepatitis B patients who go on to experience chronic liver disease or liver failure are infants.
While vaccines should still be available for families that want them, these changes will cause confusion, spread misinformation, and give insurance companies the option of whether to pay for them.
They also leave babies too young for the shots and other immunocompromised folks vulnerable as the nation loses its herd immunity and previously eradicated diseases return. - McMahon requests some fired Office of Civil Rights workers return to work at DoEd after seeing overwhelming level of civil rights complaints. 260 OCR employees were recalled to help deal with the backlog, which was already large before March’s mass layoffs.
The firing of other DoEd workers, like those in OSERS, was also supposed to be reversed after the government shutdown ended, but there are conflicting reports about whether those employees have actually returned to work or were put on paid administrative leave. - Trump Administration releases list of “banned” words from Head Start grant programs. The six-page list invalidating grant applications for the education program includes the words disabilities, Black, women, and others.
In addition to being an important lifeline for young children and their families in meeting basic food, hygiene, and education needs, Head Start programs are extremely cost-effective. Each dollar spent in early intervention for a disabled or delayed child saves over $200 in supports later. The ACLU is in the process of filing suit. - Americans brace for 2026 Medicaid cuts and skyrocketing healthcare premiums for all as Biden’s ACA subsidies expire. Overall, already high insurance costs are predicted to rise by about 26%, while folks buying care on the marketplace will see their premiums more than double as subsidies expire.
Medicaid cuts in the form of reduced retroactive coverage for past medical bills, stricter eligibility, work, and immigration status requirements, more frequent eligibility reviews, and less funding for state expansion programs, are also kicking in next year. - Palantir, the surveillance contractor co-founded by anti-democracy billionaire Peter Theil, and used by ICE and the Pentagon, has been embedded into the Dept. of Ed. With a potential contract of up to 61 billion dollars, the highly secretive company will allegedly monitor “foreign influence” specifically in university funding.
- Related service providers report some immigrant families are opting out of early intervention, speech, and OT services for their disabled children, fearing ICE repercussions. Families report distrust of the government, or logos and insignia on government caseworkers’ cars and clothing similar to ICE, as reasons they’re opting out of or no longer requesting services for their disabled children. Similar trends in avoiding medical care and early childhood education were observed earlier in the year.
ICE has continued to show particular cruelty and ignored special protections supposedly in place for the disabled, elderly, and pregnant people throughout their run of arbitrary detainment.
- Trump uses the “r-word” in a tirade against MN Governor Tim Walz on social media, prompting an explosion of use among MAGA followers. (Musk had previously revitalized the slur amongst his neo-nazi followers on X.) The Walz family reports people driving by their family home and shouting the slur at Gus, Tim Walz’s disabled son.
For anyone familiar with Trump’s past behavior, this comes as no surprise–he mocked a disabled reporter while running for election the first time, said disabled people like his nephew should just “go die,” and has been a stalwart supporter of ableist and eugenicist policy, especially since taking office for the second time.