section_path: Domestic policy/Health policy
section_name: Health policy
paragraph_text: Health policy
  
  On November 14, Trump announced that he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services Secretary. This was controversial given Kennedy's repeated endorsement of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. The director of the American Public Health Association, America's largest organization of public health professionals, said, "He is not competent by training, management skills, temperament or trust to have this job." In December, Trump revealed he was discussing ending childhood vaccination programs with Kennedy and promoted the scientifically debunked claim of a link between vaccines and autism.
  
  On February 18, Trump signed an executive order calling for the policy recommendations for reducing the out-of-pocket costs of IVF, or In Vitro Fertilisation. On February 25, Trump signed an executive order to improve healthcare cost transparency.
  
  By late April, the Trump administration had placed on leave and then temporarily rehired federal employees in the NIOSH, or National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, who had been involved in monitoring for black lung disease.
  
  On June 9, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. He claimed that it “has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.” Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a medical doctor, said “now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.” These firings came before a scheduled June 25 meeting in which the Committee was expected to issue new recommendations for vaccines including COVID-19.
  
  In late January, several CDC websites, pages, and datasets related to HIV and STI prevention, LGBT and youth health became unavailable for viewing. Shortly thereafter, the CDC ordered its scientists to retract or pause the publication of all research which had been submitted or accepted for publication, but not yet published, which included any of the following banned terms: "Gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female."
  
  In mid-February, around 1,300 CDC employees were laid off. In April, it was reported that among the reductions were the elimination of the Freedom of Information Act team, the Division of Violence Prevention, labs involved in testing for antibiotic resistance, and the team responsible for recalls of hazardous infant products. Additional cuts affected the technology branch of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, which was established during the COVID-19 pandemic.