Welcome back to Leadlines, a collection of recent articles highlighting topics that are relevant to The Floating Hospital’s mission. We hope it will provide a fuller understanding of the issues that drive our work each day.
This month’s selection is reflective of health policy on a federal level and the challenges our patients face locally regarding health, food insecurity, and other socio-economic issues.
Measles
The good news is that last month Texas state health officials announced the end of the measles outbreak that had been active in the western part of the state since the beginning of the year. The bad news is outbreaks are growing is Arizona and Utah.
According to NBC News, “As MMR vaccination rates dwindle, the U.S. is experiencing the highest number of cases in more than 30 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 1,491 cases and 38 outbreaks as of Sept. 17. Last year there were 16 outbreaks.” There are currently 41 confirmed cases of measles in Utah, all but one in unvaccinated individuals, the majority under the age of 18.
The Arizona outbreak is in a remote area, separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon, which has had historically low rates of vaccination. “According to data published by the Arizona health department, at Cottonwood Elementary School in Colorado City in Mohave County, the kindergarten rate for the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in 2024-25 was staggeringly low at 7.7%, with exemptions to the vaccine at 84.6%. Nearby, Masada Charter School reported a kindergarten MMR rate of 40%,” NBC News said.
As of September 23, there are 1,514 total confirmed cases in the United States, according to the CDC, with 185 cases that required hospitalization and three resulting deaths. Only nine states and the District Of Columbia have had no confirmed cases reported this year. New York City has had 12 cases and with an additional seven cases reported in New York State. In late August, New Jersey health officials reported that a PATH and light rail commuter with a confirmed case of measles used those trains from August 13 to 15.
Covid 19 and other vaccines
Following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval in August of updated Covid vaccines adding limitations on who could receive them, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed its own recommendations on September 19.
While not taking childhood and Covid vaccines away, the new recommendations make accessing them “more confusing, they made it more bureaucratic, and by doing that, it disincentivizes people from getting vaccinated,” according to Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in remarks to CNBC. Several medical groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have issued their own recommendations. AHIP, a health insurance provider association, said in a statement that its members will continue to cover all ACIP-recommended immunizations that were in effect prior to the issuance of the revised recommendations — “including updated formulations of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, with no cost-sharing for patients through the end of 2026.”
Cancer rates increasing in young adults
Research cited on health.com shows that younger adults are being diagnosed with colon, pancreatic, esophageal and stomach cancer more frequently. This trend is disproportionately affecting women, Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people with significant racial disparities, and often lower survival rates. Genetics, lifestyle factors and limited access to healthcare appear to be behind the numbers.
Food insecurity
Calling them redundant, the United States Department of Agriculture said on September 20 that it would discontinue its Household Food Security Reports. For three decades, the annual reports have provided data on “the lack of access to adequate nutrition for low-income Americans,” according to NPR, and have helped to shape policy on food insecurity. The announcement comes as new federal work requirements began to take effect for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. These requirements could, over the next decade, leave 22.3 million Americans without food assistance with 300,000 New York State residents likely affected this year.
And while one New York City mayoral candidate is calling for city-owned grocery stores to combat high grocery prices and bring nutritious food to underserved communities, Gothamist reported in July on the six existing “Public Retail Markets” owned by the city. The sites are run by the Economic Development Corporation on city-owned property on the Lower East Side, East Williamsburg and other locations in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, some of them dating back to the LaGuardia administration during the 1930s and ‘40s. The discounts the agency provides on rent are intended to be passed along to consumers, and, according to the people interviewed for the article, they work.
