Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: How Will We Know If Social Media Bans Work?; Anti-Vaccine Conference Showed Need For Conversation
In December 2025, as social media鈥檚 potential impact on youth mental health faced growing scrutiny, Australia became the first country to ban social media for people under 16, with Indonesia quickly following. The European Union is taking a slightly different approach, banning social media for children under 13 and personal accounts for people under 15 after pressure from several E.U. nations.聽(Camilla Iannone, 9/22)
I am firmly pro-vaccine. Ridiculing those who are not helps no one. (Robert Gebelhoff, 9/22)
When health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about the chronic disease epidemic ravaging America鈥檚 young, I am one of the people he is speaking about. At 34 years old, I am overweight and already suffering from high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I have ADHD so bad I often forget to brush my teeth in the morning. And when a doctor 鈥� who I waited several months to see in hopes he鈥檇 figure out why I鈥檓 incessantly tired 鈥� recently asked what conditions my very high dose of an SSRI was treating, my response was simply 鈥渁ll of the above.鈥� (Nicholas Florko, 9/21)
For much of my career in cancer care, I have seen a contradiction play out in the exam rooms of my colleagues and across the country. Cancer patients ask how to manage pain, fatigue, anxiety, immune suppression, and the daily toll of the disease. Clinicians often prescribe only medication, even though they know other evidence-based treatments could help: acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced nausea; exercise and nutrition counseling to improve clinical outcomes; and mindfulness-based programs to ease distress, sleep problems, and even immune dysfunction. (Lorenzo Cohen, 9/22)