President Donald Trump signed a stack of executive orders Monday night. | Evan Vucci/AP
TRUMP’S HEALTH ORDERS — In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump promised to reform the public health system and reverse actions taken against military members who declined to follow the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, among other health-related measures.
By Monday night, some of his plans had been realized.
In the Oval Office, Trump signed a slew of executive orders, including one to withdraw U.S. membership from the World Health Organization.
The move, which has been widely anticipated, will see the U.S. leave the global health body within a year from the official notification to the United Nations and the WHO, which Trump tasked newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to do.
The withdrawal, which will generate a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for the WHO’s core budget, was criticized Monday night by former CDC Director Tom Frieden, who now leads public health nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives.
“Withdrawing from WHO not only cuts crucial funding from the agency, but it also surrenders our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting global health security,” Frieden said in a statement.
Among the other orders Trump signed:
—Designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations for their role in producing and distributing the deadly synthetic illicit opioid fentanyl. Some congressional Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), have long supported the designation, while others, such as John Cornyn (R-Texas), were concerned that the move would give more Mexicans a reason to claim asylum in the U.S.
—Directing the federal government to recognize only two genders: male and female. That policy could impact health care for transgender and gender nonconforming patients — care that has increasingly become the subject of political and legal debates.
— Six Covid-related actions, including executive orders assigning a Covid response coordinator and directing health agencies to identify and expand access to Covid treatments. Trump also rescinded a 2023 memo revoking a mandate that federal employees be vaccinated against Covid.
— Actions taken to protect the Affordable Care Act, including a 2022 order that required federal agencies to review all Medicaid and ACA policies to ensure they promoted access and affordability and a 2022 order directing the CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test payment models to reduce drug costs.
— An October 2023 artificial intelligence executive order deploying federal agencies to study AI’s risks and benefits was nixed. As part of that order, HHS unveiled its AI strategy earlier this month and hired three key roles to shape ongoing AI policy at the agency.
What’s next? Trump also noted chronic disease prevention and treatment as priorities in line with the Make America Healthy Again agenda he shares with his pick to lead HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but didn’t sign any orders related to it.
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Healthcare costs must be contained, but the pharmaceutical industry isn't doing anything about it. Instead, Big Pharma is setting high drug prices that drive up government spending on Medicare and Medicaid costs - two programs that already account for approximately 22% of federal spending. Skyrocketing drug prices demand action. Let's work together to make medications affordable for everyone. Learn more.
AROUND THE AGENCIES
An acting secretary will lead HHS while nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center) awaits his Senate confirmation hearing. | Pool photo by Chip Somodevilla
HHS TAKES SHAPE — Career officials, including a women’s health leader, will be in charge of the health department until the president’s nominees can be confirmed.
Dorothy Fink, who directs the HHS Office on Women’s Health, has been tapped to act as HHS secretary while President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the agency, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., awaits Senate confirmation.
The Senate Finance Committee hasn’t announced a date for Kennedy’s confirmation hearing. He’s spent the past several weeks on Capitol Hill to woo senators who would cast deciding votes.
Fink, who also was most recently the deputy assistant secretary for women’s health, joined HHS in 2018 during the first Trump administration and has extensively researched women’s health issues, according to her federal bio.
Other acting officials include:
—Sara Brenner, a career FDA official, is expected to be named acting commissioner of the agency following Trump’s inauguration, three people familiar with the decision granted anonymity to discuss personnel selections told POLITICO’s David Lim and Adam Cancryn. She most recently worked as chief medical officer and associate director for medical affairs in the diagnostics office within the FDA’s medical device center, according to an FDA staff directory. Trump’s pick to lead the agency, Dr. Marty Makary, is also awaiting Senate confirmation.
—Todd Hunter has been chosen as the interim secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Hunter, an Army veteran, was most recently deputy executive director in the department’s Office of Mission Support. The confirmation hearing for Trump’s choice to lead the VA, former Rep. Doug Collins,was postponed last week due to a background check delay.
—Jason Gray has been tapped as administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Gray was most recently USAID’s chief information officer.
—Julie Wallace, the deputy assistant administrator at USAID’s global health bureau during the Biden administration, will lead the bureau until a Trump administration appointee is nominated and confirmed. Dr. Atul Gawande held the job during the Biden administration.
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‘NO CRIME’ SAYS FAUCI — Dr. Anthony Fauci said he appreciates that former President Joe Biden pardoned him but said in a statement he’s committed no crime. The former chief medical adviser to the president and longtime NIH scientist has been a target for Republicans for the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, POLITICO’s Sophie Gardner and Carmen Paun report.
In a statement to POLITICO outlining his service at the NIH, including advising seven presidents, Fauci said he’s been the subject of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution.
“Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me,” he said.
But the “mere articulation of these baseless threats and the potential that they will be acted upon, create immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family,” Fauci added.
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Fauci was expected to be targeted with legal action under the incoming administration, as several GOP members of Congress and Trump allies — including Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist — have threatened retribution.
One of those lawmakers is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who’s sparred with Fauci during pandemic hearings. Paul, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, plans to investigate Covid’s origins.
Republicans in Congress have alleged that Fauci was involved in suppressing the theory that a lab accident in Wuhan, China, was responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic. Fauci has endorsed the theory that the disease came from an infected animal and repeatedly pushed back on allegations that he was involved in a coverup.
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A message from The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance:
Big Pharma boosts drug prices year in and year out, often without clinical justification and at a pace exceeding inflation. Meanwhile, Americans are struggling to afford health care costs, particularly prescription drugs. We need commonsense reforms to hold Big Pharma accountable and bring much-needed relief to American families. Learn more.
