Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means' nomination to become U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators grilled her on vaccines during a tense confirmation hearing. The delay deepens doubts about Means' ability to secure the votes she needs amid concerns over the Trump administration's approach to health policy. Means likely needs support from every Republican on the Senate health committee for her nomination to move forward. But after last month’s hearing, Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine told reporters they still had questions for Means. The White House has reinforced its support for Means, a Stanford-educated physician who left her Oregon surgical residency program.

Doctors across the nation are alarmed that skepticism fueled by rising anti-science sentiment and medical mistrust is increasingly reaching beyond vaccines to other safe and routine care for babies. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that refusals of vitamin K shots rose steeply between 2017 and 2024. Those shots can prevent potentially deadly bleeding. A subsequent research review found that U.S. parents who declined vitamin K shots were 90 times more likely to also refuse the hepatitis B vaccine and an eye ointment that can prevent potentially blinding infections. Pediatricians say these refusals put their youngest patients at grave risk.

Judge blocks federal health officials’ changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.

The East Tennessee Children's Hospital is now known as Dolly Parton Children's Hospital. Hospital officials say the name change, announced Thursday, promises to “transform pediatric care” in the region. Parton's philanthropy already impacts her home state and beyond. A library initiative reports to send 3 million free books every month to children and she donated $1 million to research that helped produce Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. In a video posted Thursday, she says that she's “always believed that every child deserves a fair chance to grow up healthy, hopeful and surrounded with love.”

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: