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Nearly 700 positions are vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of a continuing freeze on hiring that officials and researchers say affects programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control and chronic disease prevention. The same restriction remains in place throughout the Health and Human Services Department despite the lifting of a government-wide hiring freeze last month. At the National Institutes of Health, staff say clinical work, patient care and recruitment are suffering. (Sun, 5/19)

Health groups are lobbying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep in place e-cigarette regulations as Republicans press the administration for a repeal. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and 50 other health groups wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price this week asking him to defend and fully implement the rules finalized under former President Barack Obama. (Wheeler, 5/19)

The new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb, has deep knowledge of the industries he oversees. That’s partly because he has unprecedented professional and financial ties to some of those companies from his career as an industry adviser. The companies that Gottlieb has worked for, advised or invested in encompass nearly every aspect of the FDA’s broad mission. Though he has promised to take steps to avoid conflicts of interest, Gottlieb will routinely confront potential ethical dilemmas. Further complicating matters are new policies the FDA is developing that will increase the influence of patient groups and change how clinical trials are conducted, which could offer opportunities for companies to influence the review process. (Siddons, 5/22)

Forty House Republicans are urging President Donald Trump to fire the director of the NIH over his support for embryonic and stem cell research that they say conflicts with Trump’s “pro-life direction.” The Republican House members, in a letter led by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), question NIH Director Francis Collins’ support for embryonic cloning and for stem cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos. (Haberkorn, 5/22)