In this episode of A Moment in Health, Dr. Ashish Jha highlights that 70% of U.S. parents oppose removing public school immunization requirements, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll—even as Florida becomes the first state to end immunization requirements for public schools. He reviews a large French registry study published in JAMA Network Open finding no link between first-trimester COVID-19 vaccination and major congenital anomalies among more than 500,000 infants, reinforcing the safety of vaccination during pregnancy. Dr. Olivier Wouters, Assistant Professor at the Brown University School of Public Health, joins to unpack whether Americans truly gain faster access to new drugs—confirming that while the majority of medicines launch first in the U.S., complex barriers mean equitable access often comes much later than in other countries.

Dr. Jha discusses:

• First-Trimester mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination and Risk of Major Congenital Anomalies — JAMA Network Open

Dr. Olivier J. Wouters is an Associate Professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health and a visiting faculty member at Harvard Medical School He was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on pharmaceutical economics and policy, particularly issues related to drug pricing and access to medicines in high- and middle-income countries.

Dr. Ashish K. Jha is the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

Music by Katherine Beggs, additional music by Lulu West and Maya Polsky