The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted last week to restrict access to the combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine for low-income children under the age of four. Vaccines for Children, a program that provides low-cost or free vaccines for children who are uninsured or on Medicaid, will no longer provide the MMRV vaccine.

In a sweeping speech, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday: “First of all, we must stop this genocide in Gaza.” He added that it “cannot be stopped by words alone.” Petro outlined actions including economic sanctions and a protection force using the General Assembly’s Uniting for Peace process to overcome the U.S. veto in the Security Council. See his speech. 

StopGenocide.com will be carrying a livestream of the U.N. meetings that begin at 9 a.m. ET Tuesday, featuring real-time critical analysis. The organizers scrutinize not just the U.S. and Israeli governments, but others as well for using rhetoric to effectively normalize genocide. The U.N. Secretary General refuses to use the term “genocide” in spite of the recent findings of the U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry, which stated that “since at least 26 January 2024, when the International Court of Justice ordered its first provisional measures, all States Parties to the Genocide Convention, and all other States too, have been on notice of a serious risk that…

StopGenocide.com will be carrying a livestream of the U.N. meetings which begin tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. ET featuring real-time critical analysis, especially noting how various countries have enabled or been complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The U.S. government cast its sixth veto against a ceasefire last week, but the General Assembly can use Uniting for Peace to overcome that and take concrete measures with a two-thirds vote. Analysts and activists available for a limited number of interviews:  CRAIG MOKHIBER, [email protected], @CraigMokhiber Mokhiber is an international human rights lawyer and activist and a former senior United Nations human rights official. He has been featured on numerous IPA news releases. His articles at Mondoweissinclude…

“For the sixth time, the US has vetoed a ceasefire in the Gaza genocide, underscoring once again the grave threat to the world posed by the US-Israel axis. The violent, racist, and lawless rampage of the axis is leaving a trail of murder and destruction across Western Asia and the wider world, corrupting governments and trampling human rights across the West, and shredding international law and institutions in its wake. The world must get off its knees, unite, and stop this horror — while they still can.”

“Equating Israel with all Jews and Israel’s future with theirs is an effort to sanctify Israel and shield it from criticism by brandishing the charge of antisemitism,” Norman Solomon wrote in The Guardian this week. He added: “By insisting that it is the embodiment of Jews all over the world, the state of Israel seeks to associate Jews everywhere with its systematic war crimes and genocide in Gaza along with deadly ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Thursday marks the one year deadline given by the UN General Assembly for Israel to end its illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Major multinational grassroots organizations will hold a rally and march “demanding the UNGA take immediate action to stop the genocide now.” It will be livestreamed beginning at noon at LifelineForPalestine.com. 

Last month, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) joined Protect Our Care in relaunching the organization’s Hospital Crisis Watch. Protect Our Care hosts an interactive map and a report that outlines how the new federal budget will shutter rural hospitals, slash healthcare services, and leave communities in crisis. By limiting the ways that states fund Medicaid and reimburse hospitals for care, Protect Our Care states, the “GOP tax scam… will shutter struggling hospitals and make it nearly impossible for states to manage the burden of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history without kicking millions off their coverage and taking away benefits.…

An Israeli sniper detailed in comments to Haaretz the killing of unarmed Palestinians, including children, who were attempting to get aid in Gaza. AntiWar.com reports: “Israel Kills Over 100 Palestinians in Gaza as It Launches Ground Offensive to Conquer Gaza City.” The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry finds in their in-depth report released Tuesday that Israel is committing genocide, that top officials, including President Isaac Herzog have engaged in incitement to commit genocide and Israel has had “clear knowledge of the presence of Palestinian civilians along the evacuation routes and within the safe areas but nevertheless they shot at and killed civilians, some of whom (including…

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are among the most effective forms of contraception, but they can create pain upon insertion. Reporting in Slate reveals that healthcare providers with a subspecialty in complex family planning are more likely to offer pain management––including paracervical blocks like lidocaine, or sedation––for IUD insertion. One insidious consequence of the closures of abortion clinics across the U.S. is that fewer clinics may end up offering pain management for IUDs.  Health journalist Sarah Boden notes that as abortion clinics shutter, more patients who want an IUD “to manage periods, prevent pregnancy, or reduce pain caused by conditions like endometriosis…