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KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the organization’s core operating programs.
KFF Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman delivered the Victor J. Dzau Keynote Address at the National Academy of Medicine’s 2026 Annual Meeting (Scientific Symposium on Chronic Disease) on October 10, 2026, where he described the big challenges ahead in health policy, and where chronic illness fits.
KFF’s recently released Tracking Poll finds that public confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for use during pregnancy has fallen, and many are uncertain about a false claim linking the vaccines with higher risk of miscarriage. Separately, conversations about childhood vaccines frame vaccination as an individual parental decision.
Drawing on KFF's poll findings, this interactive dashboard tracks the public’s trusted sources for health information, attitudes toward vaccines, and use of news, social media, and AI for health-related information. It provides visual representations of the key trends in the public’s trust in health information and tracks exposure to and belief in false and unproven health claims.
The latest KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust finds about half of parents mistakenly believe spacing out vaccines is healthier for children, while confidence in many long-standing childhood vaccines is high across partisans. These findings take on new relevance following President Trump's recent executive order calling for changes in U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations, including splitting the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—currently given as a single combined shot—into three separate vaccines across multiple…
A comprehensive timeline of public health policy actions by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Trump administration from 2025-2026, with key dates, descriptions, and impacts.
Federal vaccine policy has shifted toward fewer recommended routine childhood vaccinations, more emphasis on individual decision-making, and greater skepticism about the safety and efficacy of some vaccines. The changes coincide with declining childhood vaccination rates, rising exemptions from school vaccine requirements, and a major measles resurgence.
States are taking different regulatory approaches to AI mental health tools in response to concerns about chatbots providing inaccurate or potentially dangerous advice. Laws and pending legislation in some states restrict AI from providing or advertising itself as therapy, while others focus on data protections, disclosures, and patient consent requirements.
This issue brief provides an update on the latest trends in kindergarten children's routine vaccination and exemption rates. Over three-quarters of states had measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination rates below the “target” rate of 95% for the 2025-2026 school year.
States and local governments, rather than the federal government, have authority over school vaccination requirements, and while all 50 states and DC require certain vaccines for school attendance, they vary substantially in how exemptions are granted and administered. As the Trump administration has moved away from longstanding federal childhood vaccine recommendations, an increasing number of states are delinking their vaccine policies from CDC/ACIP guidance, while recent state policy changes have generally made non-medical exemptions easier…
Examines the White House’s latest Executive Order seeking to reshape U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations, including a directive to separate MMR vaccines and use a new HHS task force for federal recommendations. It finds that the order is unlikely to have an immediate or sweeping effect on U.S. vaccine policy given courts blocked earlier, similar administration actions, and states are increasingly decoupling their policies from federal recommendations.
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