August 21, 2026

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Better health begins with ideas

 

Editor’s Note

Cyberattacks on the United States are on the rise. Just last month, hackers, often supported by noncooperative foreign governments, disrupted care at hospitals, stole millions of health-care records, and attacked infrastructure. The health-care sector has become the preferred battleground for hackers due to its potentially significant risks for patient and community safety. In 2025, the FBI reported that there were more ransomware attacks on health care than on any other critical infrastructure sector. 

 

Now, as artificial intelligence enables hackers to more quickly find and exploit software vulnerabilities, John Riggi, the American Hospital Association’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, outlines why the United States needs a whole-of-nation approach to keep pace with  perpetrators and strengthen the country’s cyber defenses. 

 

Continuing TGH’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s executive order directing agencies to split the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots, CFR Senior Fellow Prashant Yadav explores how the order could have significant contagion effects on demand and supply for MMR, measles-rubella, and measles-only vaccines globally.

 

To wrap up, journalist Sam Nichols investigates why many young Americans with opioid use disorder are not receiving buprenorphine, an effective medication that—unlike the stronger, more restricted methadone—can be prescribed by any doctor or nurse practitioner and dispensed by a pharmacy. 

 

Until next week!—Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor  

 

This Week’s Highlights

 

GOVERNANCE

Used MMR vaccines are pictured in a sharps container at the City of Lubbock Health Department, in Lubbock, Texas, on February 27, 2025.

Trump’s Executive Order on Vaccines Could Be Contagious 

by Prashant Yadav

The push to split the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine into separate shots could have a ripple effect on global markets 

     

Read this story

 

Figure of the Week

 

A line graph showing the number of health-care breaches in the united states

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Recommended Feature

 

GOVERNANCE

Silvia Martinez sits in her kitchen with her daughter Alize’ urn on August 10, 2026 in Wichita Falls, Texas. Alizé passed in 2022 to an overdose. She was 19 years old.

The Opioid Use Treatment Young Americans Can’t Access 

by Sam Nichols

More than 500,000 young people have opioid use disorder, but data shows many are not receiving buprenorphine, a medication proven to reduce overdose deaths 

      

Read this story

 

What We’re Reading

Top British Scientist Steps Down From WHO (The Telegraph)

 

High Seas, Heat, Heavy Rain: El Niño Is on Track to Be the Strongest on Record (NBC News)

 

Russian Strikes on Dozens of Grain Ships Threaten Global Food Supplies (New York Times)

 

Ebola Is Driving Up Maternal Deaths as Pregnant Women in Congo Avoid Hospitals (Bloomberg)

 

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