TV News LIES

The measles outbreak in Texas has grown to at least 90 cases, reaching historic levels, according to officials.

Since late January, 90 cases of measles have been identified in the South Plains region, the state’s department of state health services (DSHS) reported Friday. At least 16 patients have been hospitalized as a result.

The majority of reported measles cases were in children and teenagers; minors between the ages of five and 17 accounted for 51 cases. Children under four made up 26 cases. Most patients’ parents either had chosen to not immunize them against the highly contagious illness through vaccines meant to prevent the potentially deadly illness and its spread, or their vaccination status was unknown.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Friday made a significant reduction in grants reserved for research institutions, a decision that may significantly impact American higher education.

The NIH said it provided over $35 billion in grants to more than 2,500 institutions in 2023, announcing that it will now limit the amount granted for “indirect funding” to 15 percent. This funding helps cover universities’ overhead and administrative expenses and previously averaged nearly 30 percent, with some universities charging over 60 percent.

The change will take effect on Monday, and will save roughly $4 billion annually, per the NIH.

US regulators on Wednesday banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation’s food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk.

Food and Drug Administration officials granted a 2022 petition filed by two dozen food safety and health advocates, who urged the agency to revoke authorization for the substance that gives some candies, snack cakes and maraschino cherries a bright red hue.

The agency said it was taking the action as a “matter of law” because some studies have found that the dye caused cancer in lab rats. Officials cited a statute known as the Delaney Clause, which requires FDA to ban any additive found to cause cancer in people or animals.

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Respiratory viruses impact everyone differently. Some may miss a few days of work, while others face a long recovery. Certain risk factors can make you more vulnerable to getting very sick from COVID-19, flu and RSV.

To stay healthy, people at high risk and their loved ones should take precautions — whether they’re an active senior staying up to date on their shots or a pregnant person getting vaccinated to protect their unborn baby. Vaccines are your best defense against getting very sick.

Here are five key risk factors to know:

1.Age. Grandparents and grandkids share a special bond, but during respiratory virus season, older adults need to take extra care. People ages 65 and older are at a higher risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19 and flu, while those 75 and older are at a higher risk for severe RSV. Additionally, older adults who are 60 to 74 and live in nursing homes or have health conditions, such as heart and lung disease, obesity, diabetes, kidney disease and other chronic conditions, are at higher risk of complications and more severe illness from RSV

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President-elect Donald Trump's choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — may have significant conflicts of interest.

Oz recently held investments, some shared with family, in health care, pharmaceutical firms and tech companies with business in the health care sector, such as Amazon. Collectively, Oz's holdings totalled tens of millions of dollars, according to financial disclosures he filed during his failed 2022 run for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat. This includes a stake in UnitedHealth Group worth as much as $600,000.

Trump said Tuesday he would nominate Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency's scope is huge: CMS oversees coverage for more than 155 million Americans, nearly half the population. Medicare alone accounts for approximately $1 trillion in annual spending, with over 67 million enrollees.

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued the country's three largest pharmacy benefit managers on Friday, accusing them of steering diabetes patients toward higher-priced insulin to reap millions of dollars in rebates from pharmaceutical companies.

The case accuses UnitedHealth Group Inc's Optum unit, CVS Health Corp's CVS Caremark and Cigna Corp's Express Scripts of unfairly excluding lower-cost insulin products from lists of drugs covered by insurers.