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On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the men and women who defend our nation will be able to choose whether to be protected from the flu. In his video statement, he said that service members will no longer be required to get the annual influenza vaccine because flu causes “no threat to our military readiness.” Unfortunately, this is untrue. (Paul Friedrichs, 4/23)

Across marathon hearings before lawmakers over the past week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was repeatedly challenged over his response to the ongoing measles outbreak — and he repeatedly refused to take responsibility for the rising number of infections. (Lisa Jarvis, 4/24)

Reporting on health for a local paper does not end when the story is published. I’ve often answered phone calls and emails from readers trying to understand what new findings meant for their own lives. Even after the rescue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the future of its health and science reporting tradition is uncertain — and it’s not alone. Too often, specialized beats such as health and science coverage are among the first to go in local journalism, and that is a threat to public health. (Ava Dzurenda, 4/24)

Each day in the U.S., an average of 57 nurses are assaulted, which is about two per hour. While this may be surprising to you, to me, sadly, it is not. While working as a nurse in the emergency room, I have been slapped, kicked, punched, and pushed. I have been yelled at and threatened by patients and their family members. (Kimberly Kearns, 4/23)

A Malden program is testing whether better access to outdoor recreation can improve public health. (Miles Howard, 4/24)