NYT: Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order
Ms. Zondi’s trial is one of dozens that have been abruptly frozen, leaving people around the world with experimental drugs and medical products in their bodies, cut off from the researchers who were monitoring them, and generating waves of suspicion and fear.
The State Department, which now oversees U.S.A.I.D., replied to a request for comment by directing a reporter to USAID.gov, which no longer contains any information except that all permanent employees have been placed on administrative leave. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the agency is wasteful and advances a liberal agenda that is counter to President Trump’s foreign policy.
In interviews, scientists — who are forbidden by the terms of the stop-work order to speak with the news media — described agonizing choices: violate the stop-work orders and continue to care for trial volunteers, or leave them alone to face potential side effects and harm.
Ottawa Citizen: Will tariffs overshadow health care as an Ontario election issue?
“Health care is in the shadow of the tariffs at the moment,” Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, said outside Queensway Carleton Hospital. “But, for all the families that are waiting for long-term care, for all the people waiting for surgeries and all the people who love them, for people who are experiencing all the waits, or for many people who have no access at all to primary care, this remains a burning issue and it certainly is for all the people who work in institutions like this.”
A day before the election call, the hospital in Ottawa’s west end had issued a wait-time alert due to the high number of patients being admitted and waiting in the emergency department. At the time, hospital occupancy was over 100 per cent, 21 additional patients were admitted without beds, and more than 100 people were waiting to be seen in emergency.
Queensway Carleton is far from alone. … And, despite a 2018 promise from the Progressive Conservative government to end hallway health care, it is becoming more common. Those are among the signs of a health system under chronic and growing strain.
Globe: Andrew Coyne: Reduce our dependence on the U.S.? Sure, but it’s a lot harder than it sounds
But what everyone seems to have concluded is that our world has changed, irrevocably. The country we thought was our friend and ally has turned, inexplicably, into our enemy. Our great national advantage, the foundation of our economic, defence and foreign policy for decades – proximity to the world’s biggest superpower and largest consumer market – has turned into our biggest liability. Never have we been more vulnerable, or alone.
The sense of shock has been palpable: shock, followed by fear, followed by resolve. In the short term, there is a debate over what mix of emollience and retaliation can stave off disaster, buy us time. But in the longer term, everyone now recognizes that things must change.
Last Updated: 07.Feb.2025 23:29 EST
There were no interesting political articles for me Thursday, just more of the same.
Wednesday’s political articles
Follow along as new links are added to today’s political list
