The Brief

The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability and death.

Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend — against hepatitis A, hepatitis B and rotavirus — have prevented nearly 2 million hospitalizations and more than 90,000 deaths in the past 30 years, according to the CDC's own publications.

Vaccines against the three diseases, as well as those against respiratory syncytial virus, meningococcal disease, flu, and COVID, are now recommended only for children at high risk of serious illness or after "shared clinical decision-making," or consultation between doctors and parents.

The CDC maintained its recommendations for 11 childhood vaccines: measles, mumps, and rubella; whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria; the bacterial disease known as Hib; pneumonia; polio; chickenpox; and human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Federal and private insurance will still cover vaccines for the diseases the CDC no longer recommends universally, according to a Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet; parents who want to vaccinate their children against those diseases will not have to pay out-of-pocket.

Experts on childhood disease were baffled by the change in guidance. HHS said the changes followed "a scientific review of the underlying science" and were in line with vaccination programs in other developed nations.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, pointed to Denmark as a model. But the schedules of most European countries are closer to the U.S. standard upended by the new guidance.

For example, Denmark, which does not vaccinate against rotavirus, registers around 1,200 infant and toddler rotavirus hospitalizations a year. That rate, in a country of 6 million, is about the same as it was in the United States before vaccination.

"They're OK with having 1,200 or 1,300 hospitalized kids, which is the tip of the iceberg in terms of childhood suffering," said Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a co-inventor of a licensed rotavirus vaccine. "We weren't. They should be trying to emulate us, not the other way around."

Public health officials say the new guidance puts the onus on parents to research and understand each childhood vaccine and why it is important.

Here's a rundown of the diseases the sidelined vaccines prevent:

RSV. Respiratory syncytial virus is the most common cause of hospitalization for infants in the U.S.

The respiratory virus usually spreads in fall and winter and produces cold-like symptoms, though it can be deadly for young children, causing tens of thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths a year. According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, roughly 80% of children younger than 2 who are hospitalized with RSV have no identifiable risk factors. Long-awaited vaccines against the disease were introduced in 2023.

Hepatitis A. Hepatitis A vaccination, which was phased in beginning in the late 1990s and recommended for all toddlers starting in 2006, has led to a more than 90% drop in the disease since 1996. The foodborne virus, which causes a wretched illness, continues to plague adults, particularly people who are homeless or who abuse drugs or alcohol, with a total of 1,648 cases and 85 deaths reported in 2023.

Hepatitis B. The disease causes liver cancer, cirrhosis, and other serious illnesses and is particularly dangerous when contracted by babies and young children. The hepatitis B virus is transmitted through blood and other bodily fluids, even in microscopic amounts, and can survive on surfaces for a week. From 1990 to 2019, vaccination resulted in a 99% decline in reported cases of acute hepatitis B among children and teens. Liver cancer among American children has also plummeted as a result of universal childhood vaccination. But the hepatitis B virus is still around, with 2,000-3,000 acute cases reported annually among unvaccinated adults. More than 17,000 chronic hepatitis B diagnoses were reported in 2023. The CDC estimates about half of people infected don't know they have it.

Rotavirus. Before routine administration of the current rotavirus vaccines began in 2006, about 70,000 young children were hospitalized and 50 died every year from the virus. It was known as "winter vomiting syndrome," said Sean O'Leary, a pediatrician at the University of Colorado. "It was a miserable disease that we hardly see anymore."

The virus is still common on surfaces that babies touch, however, and "if you lower immunization rates it will once again hospitalize children," Offit said.

Meningococcal vaccines. These have been required mainly for teenagers and college students, who are notably vulnerable to critical illness caused by the bacteria. About 600 to 1,000 cases of meningococcal disease are reported in the U.S. each year, but it kills more than 10% of those it sickens, and 1 in 5 survivors have permanent disabilities.

Flu and covid. The two respiratory viruses have each killed hundreds of children in recent years — though both tend to be much more severe in older adults. Flu is currently on the upswing in the United States, and last flu season the virus killed 289 children.

What is shared clinical decision-making?

Under the changes, decisions about vaccinating children against influenza, covid, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, and hepatitis A and B will now rely on what officials call "shared clinical decision-making," meaning families will have to consult with a health care provider to determine whether a vaccine is appropriate.

"It means a provider should have a conversation with the patient to lay out the risks and the benefits and make a decision for that individual person," said Lori Handy, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

In the past, the CDC used that term only in reference to narrow circumstances, like whether a person in a monogamous relationship needed the HPV vaccine, which prevents a sexually transmitted infection and certain cancers.

The CDC's new approach doesn't line up with the science because of the proven protective benefit the vaccines have for the vast majority of the population, Handy said.

In their report justifying the changes, HHS officials Tracy Beth Høeg and Martin Kulldorff said the U.S. vaccination system requires more safety research and more parental choice. Eroding trust in public health caused in part by an overly large vaccine schedule had led more parents to shun vaccination against major threats like measles, they said.

The vaccines on the schedule that the CDC has altered were backed up by extensive safety research when they were evaluated and approved by the FDA.

"They're held to a safety standard higher than any other medical intervention that we have," Handy said. "The value of routine recommendations is that it really helps the public understand that this has been vetted upside down and backwards in every which way."

Eric Ball, a pediatrician in Orange County, Calif., said the change in guidance will cause more confusion among parents who think it means a vaccine's safety is in question.

"It is critical for public health that recommendations for vaccines are very clear and concise," Ball said. "Anything to muddy the water is just going to lead to more children getting sick."

Ball said that instead of focusing on a child's individual health needs, he often has to spend limited clinic time reassuring parents that vaccines are safe. A "shared clinical decision-making" status for a vaccine has no relationship to safety concerns, but parents may think it does.

HHS' changes do not affect state vaccination laws and therefore should allow prudent medical practitioners to carry on as before, said Richard Hughes IV, an attorney and a George Washington University lecturer who is leading litigation against Kennedy over vaccine changes.

"You could expect that any pediatrician is going to follow sound evidence and recommend that their patients be vaccinated," he said. The law protects providers who follow professional care guidelines, he said, and "RSV, meningococcal, and hepatitis remain serious health threats for children in this country."

This story comes from NPR's health reporting partnership with KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. KFF Health News is one of the core operating programs at KFF, the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

James L. Jones Jr., 69, a self-described “community pastor” and a tireless advocate for Black communities in Los Angeles, was an enthusiastic supporter of Karen Bass’ mayoral bid in 2022, when she made history as the first woman, and first Black woman, to be elected L.A. mayor.

As Bass seeks reelection, Jones is supporting her again. Despite the political turmoil and criticism she has faced during her first term, Jones, known as Reverend JJ, believes she has a plan for Black progress that may not be evident, but is long range and strategic.

“I believe that in my heart of hearts, Karen’s not one of those people who follows polls,” said Jones. “In the end she’ll do what’s right for the people.”

When Angelenos elected Bass four years ago, she seemed like the right person to bridge the ideals of the post-George Floyd era and whatever moment was coming next. She was a seasoned politician — a former state legislator, congresswoman and native Angeleno with a history of grassroots organizing and coalition building in a city that was leaning more progressive.

But in 2022, there was trouble on the horizon. The nation’s Floyd-inspired reexamination of racial equity was losing ground to a growing MAGA backlash that had helped kill a major federal bill to reform policing, among other initiatives. Big blue cities like Los Angeles that had seen big protests for racial justice were being cast as chaotic and ungovernable.

Four years later, the ideals that propelled Bass’ election have taken a beating. Trump’s return to the White House has elevated long-simmering anti-“wokeness” and white resentment into federal policy. And the administration has focused special ire on California and Los Angeles, where Bass is in charge of the nation’s largest city currently led by a Black mayor.

Bass is taking a beating too. As she seeks reelection in the June 2 primary, the mayor is weathering criticism from many sides that she’s done too little about everything, from the homelessness and housing crisis that she made a signature issue to her response to the epic January 2025 wildfire that destroyed thousands of homes in Pacific Palisades, one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

Despite facing more voter uncertainty this time around, Bass is leading in the polls, with 30% support among likely voters, according to the latest survey by Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics. While Bass’ support has jumped 10 points since March, she would have to get more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff with the other top vote-getter in November.

Her most formidable challengers in the crowded primary are Councilwoman Nithya Raman, a Democratic socialist to Bass’ left who is campaigning on housing affordability and a host of other progressive causes, and Spencer Pratt, a former reality show star with no political experience who skews conservative and touts cleaning up crime and homelessness. A former Bass ally, Raman pledges to do better than the mayor on reducing homelessness and increasing new housing production; Pratt decries corrupt leadership and talks chiefly about making L.A. great again, a la MAGA. Pratt and Raman are polling at 22% and 19%, respectively.

Missing from all the criticism of how Bass has fallen short is how or whether her election has benefited L.A.’s Black community. It’s a population that is rapidly continuing to dwindle — to roughly 8% today from a peak of 18% in 1970 — besieged by gentrification, stratospheric housing costs, underemployment and shrinking political representation, all of it aggravated by the racial hostility emanating from Washington. That norm-shattering phenomenon has tended to eclipse discussion of racial crises happening locally, with good reason. But politics are still local, and many Angelenos who supported Bass in 2022 hoped that electing the second Black mayor in the city’s history would help move the needle on longstanding Black problems dating back to 1992 that have reached yet another inflection point.

But public assessments of Bass by Black leaders the last four years, including this election cycle, have been muted to nonexistent. The exception is Black Lives Matter Grassroots L.A., which has routinely taken her to task for increasing police funding instead of allocating more resources to social and other services — a core part of the post-George Floyd reforms. Observers say the reticence among Black leaders is partly due to the fact that Bass has been so inundated with crises, some not of her making — especially the Palisades fire. The view that Bass committed a fatal mistake by being on a diplomatic trip to Ghana when the fires broke out has more or less defined her politically since.

That’s unfair, said Michael Guynn, a veteran social worker and community activist who lives near Florence and Normandie avenues, a famous site of the 1992 racial unrest.

“I don’t give a damn if she was out of the country — she got back when she could,” Guynn said. “They blamed her for what the fire department was responsible for.”

Then there’s the racism that dogs Black elected officials, women in particular. Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades fire last year, has invoked Donald Trump-like rhetoric to belittle L.A.’s first Black woman mayor. That includes an official campaign poster that depicts Bass stuffed in a trash can and says “throw out Karen Basura,” the Spanish word for trash, echoing Trump’s disparaging of Somali immigrants — a demographic that includes Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar — as “garbage.”

But the takedown isn’t only coming from the MAGA right, said Genethia Hudley-Hayes, former president of L.A.’s civilian Fire Commission and a Bass appointee who stepped down in March.

“There’s always the bigotry of, ‘We rallied around this Black woman and she hasn’t performed,’” said Hudley-Hayes. “She’s not a superwoman. That’s part of the ‘I’m mad’ vote in L.A.”

Another hurdle for Bass, Guynn said, is the unrealistic expectation that she would dramatically reduce or even eliminate homelessness.

“She couldn’t get a fair break because of that,” he said, adding that “everybody hates homelessness and wants it to go away, but nobody wants to do the work.”

Homelessness certainly qualifies as a Black concern: 32% of unhoused people in the city are African American, according to the city’s latest count. Bass’ signature program Inside Safe, which seeks to get people off the street and into temporary housing, has made inroads. But the mayor’s efforts have been hampered by what City Hall observers say is a larger problem of messaging, management and oversight. The scandal involving a subcontractor accused of defrauding the city’s homeless services authority of $23 million is a painful reminder of that.

Hudley-Hayes says that it points to the need for the mayor of L.A. to be a skilled executive, a skill that Bass doesn’t have, at least not yet.

“You need collaboration, which is different from coalition building, different from the activism of Community Coalition,” she said, referring to the grassroots South L.A. organization co-founded by Bass.

Deep understanding of the roles of not just the 41 city departments but of bigger entities like the county is essential not just for running the city but for effecting racial justice as well.

“Homelessness is important, but you have to ask, what are the structures that create homelessness? It’s not just a city problem but a regional problem,” said Hudley-Hayes. “Inside Safe is a program, not a strategy.”

But being a better executive wouldn’t automatically guarantee improvements for Black people. Tom Bradley, who was mayor from 1973 to 1993, is venerated both as a coalition builder and astute manager who improved many parts of the city. But he didn’t do enough for L.A.’s Black populace. While the Black middle class flourished during the Bradley years, in part because Black municipal employment flourished, the larger working class and poor in South L.A. did not.

Hudley-Hayes argues the mayor’s lack of accountability to L.A.’s Black population as a whole is longstanding, and not unique to elected officials like Bradley or Bass. Local branches of civil rights groups like the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — which Hudley-Hayes once led — also play a part in accountability, though they have declined notably over the years. But Hudley-Hayes notes that accountability works two ways.

“Black people have individual agency, but we have to exercise it together,” she said. “We have to pool our experience. It means nothing if we don’t demand what we want.”

Even — especially — in these trying times, and in a city with as much possibility as L.A., problems notwithstanding — those demands should still matter.

Copyright Capital & Main 2026

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Walmart will likely put its tariff refunds toward lowering store prices, executives said on Thursday, as they described shoppers who are increasingly anxious about the rising cost of fuel.

In recent weeks, visitors to Walmart's gas stations have begun to fill up with fewer than ten gallons for the first time since 2022, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told investors on an earnings call.

"That's an indication of stress," he said.

"We see with our customers that the high-income customer is spending with confidence," Rainey added later, "while the lower-income consumer is more budget-conscious and perhaps navigating financial distress."

The U.S. government last week began refunding tariffs payments to importers that paid higher customs fees imposed by President Trump last year before the Supreme Court struck down most of them. Walmart is now the largest retailer to suggest that it will put those refunds toward potential price cuts.

"We think that the single best return that we can have on a dollar of capital right now is to investment in the customer, invest in price," Rainey said, noting that Walmart's stores and gas stations have been drawing more shoppers looking for deals. U.S. sales grew 4.1% from February through April.

Shoppers' slightly bigger tax refunds this year seem to be offsetting some of the budget pain so far. That's according to rival retailers Home Depot, Target and Lowe's, which also held earnings calls this week. Sales at all three companies grew in the latest quarter.

The latest federal data shows spending at retail stores and online grew 5.2% in April compared to a year earlier, surpassing inflation. That means people may have spent more because of higher prices, but also because they bought more things. At gas stations, spending surged a whopping 21%, driven by higher gas prices.

Walmart executives warned that persistently high gas costs would eventually drive up the prices shoppers see at stores.

The U.S. war with Iran has snarled tanker passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital corridor for shipments of both fuel and fertilizer needed to grow food. U.S. inflation already jumped to its highest level in three years in April, with energy prices being a big driver. The average U.S. price of regular gas on Thursday was $4.56 per gallon, according to AAA. That's up $1.38 from a year ago.

So far, major retailers have been absorbing their growing transportation and shipping costs. Walmart on Thursday reported a notable hit to its income from higher fuel expenses. Home Depot executives told investors on Tuesday that the company might use its own tariff refunds to offset its mounting fuel costs.
Copyright 2026 NPR

With less than a month before the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup kicks off, soccer fans are scrambling to grab the last remaining tickets.

At the time of publication, there are still some tickets available for the six World Cup games hosted at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

But while the Bay Area hasn’t yet experienced the kind of ticket frenzy seen in other World Cup host cities, prices are still out of reach for many fans — raising concerns about how fans looking for a bargain could fall prey to scams falsely promising far cheaper tickets.

And most recently, the World Cup’s own governing body, FIFA, has drawn scrutiny from California state officials over changes to its ticketing system — following reports from ticketholders who say they have been assigned seats in a different category than advertised when they bought their tickets through FIFA’s own online portal.

“We have laws in California against misleading or deceptive business practices,” said state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sent a letter to FIFA last week requesting a list of ticket buyers who were assigned seats in a lower category than what they purchased. “We want to learn more from FIFA in order to assess whether what was done was lawful or not.”

Bonta also expressed concern that sky-high prices could deter people from buying a ticket through FIFA’s official website or other verified vendors. Passionate soccer fans, he said, “may go into a site that isn’t as reliable and maybe they get taken advantage of.”

An Adidas FIFA World Cup soccer ball is seen on a FIFA x NFL chair in the Media Center on Feb. 4, 2026 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

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So how can you spot a scam when buying a World Cup ticket, or just make sure you get what you pay for?

Keep reading to learn what officials recommend about buying World Cup tickets online and what to do if you already bought a ticket on the official FIFA site but feel that the seat you were assigned does not match what you originally paid for.

And rest assured: there are still plenty of ways to watch the World Cup in the Bay Area for free — or for a fraction of the cost of a Levi’s Stadium ticket, real or fake.

Remember, if something’s too good to be true …

First off: If you’re feeling confused over what a World Cup ticket actually costs, that’s understandable, Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro said.

For this World Cup, FIFA adopted a pricing system known as “dynamic pricing,” where the cost of a seat changes based on current demand for that specific game.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup winner’s trophy is seen on stage at the Global Citizen NOW event in New York City on May 14, 2026.

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Scammers often promise you “a better deal” if you make the payment using instant payment sites like Zelle, Venmo and Cash App. But fraudsters aren’t trying to save you money with this suggestion: They’re trying to make it easier for themselves to keep your money.

Talking to strangers on a resale or payments site that’s not verified puts you at greater risk of getting ripped off, Gibbons-Shapiro said. “The criminal is simply looking for someone desperate enough to go to the World Cup that they’re willing to send a lot of money right away to a total stranger,” he said.

In other words, he said: “It’s not that the country that you are supporting is going to lose — it’s going to be you that loses.”

How do I know if the World Cup tickets I’m being offered are real?

Scammers have become incredibly good at printing fake tickets that look highly realistic, Gibbons-Shapiro said. So much so, he said, that when sports fans ask him for advice on how to spot a fake ticket, he tells them that he doesn’t have any tips that reliably work — that’s how identical the scam tickets can physically appear.

The real pro tip here, Gibbons-Shapiro said, is “don’t go to the stadium to try to buy a ticket there.”

“Because the great likelihood is that you’re buying a fake ticket,” he said. “You’re not gonna be able to get in, and you’re going to lose all your money.”

Scalpers are actually not permitted on stadium grounds — and reselling tickets near the stadium is a misdemeanor crime in California.

That’s why it’s important to buy your ticket on a third-party ticket resale site that will deliver the ticket directly to you.

Footballs and jerseys are displayed during the opening day of the official 2026 FIFA World Cup merchandising store in Miami Beach, Florida, on May 18, 2026

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Platforms like WhatsApp or Facebook Marketplace usually will not verify if what’s being offered is what’s actually sold.

And even if you’re using reliable third-party sites like SeatGeek or TicketMaster, check the reseller’s refund policy to see whether they offer a guarantee regarding the authenticity and timely arrival of the tickets.

I just got scammed buying a fake World Cup ticket. What can I do?

First of all, make sure to document all your communication with the person who promised to sell you a ticket — and take screenshots of those messages in case they attempt to delete anything from their end of the conversation.

If you were scammed online or over the phone:

You can then report the situation to your local police department, as the city where you live is defined as where the crime took place.

If you bought the fake ticket in person from a scalper: 

Contact the police department of the city where the transaction took place. “If that happened right outside the stadium, that would be Santa Clara Police Department,” Gibbons-Shapiro said.

You can also file a complaint with the California Attorney General’s office or the Better Business Bureau.

Gibbons-Shapiro said his office is ready to prosecute anyone who tricks others into buying fake World Cup tickets, adding that he would consider that to be a felony.

“We have robust teams for consumer protection and theft enforcement,” he said. “We’re going to prosecute the scammers.”

I bought a ticket on the FIFA website, and I think I got seated in a different place than what I paid for.

If you bought your ticket from the online FIFA purchasing portal during the initial sales phase last October, Attorney General Bonta recommends that you keep a record of everything from that purchase. This could include, he said, “images of the map they were shown and the original receipt for the ticket that they purchased and what it says, and the existing ticket that they have.”

You can also contact Bonta’s office to share your experience.

Bonta told KQED his office is still investigating what happened during this initial ticketing phase and hopes that FIFA provides the information he has requested by the May 29 deadline. “And if they don’t, we can ratchet up the level of severity here,” he said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a news conference in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (

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“It’s not something that we want to do, but we always have an ability to send civil investigative demands or subpoenas,” Bonta said.

FIFA did not respond to a request for comment from KQED. However, the organization has told other media outlets that the initial maps consumers saw last year were meant to “provide guidance rather than the exact seat layout,” and seating arrangements could be subject to change — as happened when the organization introduced new seating categories in later phases of ticket sales.

But that could potentially be in violation of California law, Bonta said.

“The law in California is that businesses and organizations cannot justify misleading practices by pointing to the fine print or other terms that an everyday reasonable consumer would not have seen or understood,” he said. “If you’re told something, then you’re entitled to rely on the representation and to trust what you were told.”

The attorney general’s office could seek some civil penalty if its investigation concludes that the rights of California consumers were indeed violated, Bonta said. “Then we could help those individuals get the ticket that they actually purchased, not the one that they received after they were misled.”

But the investigation is still ongoing, he said.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

At the five-point intersection connecting Boyle Heights and East LA, one Memorial Day tradition has brought the communities together for 80 years.

The Memorial Day tribute at the Mexican American All Wars Memorial returns Monday, giving veterans and their families a space to honor service members of Mexican descent who died in war.

The event kicks off with a 24-hour vigil starting at 10 a.m. Sunday, when veterans will stand guard through the night ahead of Monday’s annual event.

“Memorial Day in Boyle Heights and East LA is way different than any other memorial or ceremony because there were a lot of men and women who went to World War II and Vietnam from this area,” said Joe Diaz, a co-organizer for the event.

Elected officials, including LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Senator Maria Elena Durazo and Council District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, are set to give remarks. LA Mayor Karen Bass is also expected to attend. 

LAPD officer and military veteran Kioni Smith is set to be the keynote speaker. A flyover from the Los Angeles Police Department Air Support Division and a colorguard performance are also scheduled. 

Cinco Puntos was the starting location of the first Chicano Moratorium, a march in protest of the Vietnam War on December 20, 1969, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. The war memorial pays tribute to the strong presence of the veteran community on the Eastside, the L.A. Conservancy adds. 

Event Details:

The 80th Memorial Day ceremony at the Mexican-American All Wars Memorial in Boyle Heights.

Location: 3300 E. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue

Time: 10 to 11 a.m.