Trending News Today: Republicans Divided on How to Move Forward After AHCA Failure

Yesterday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced that President Donald Trump does not consider the healthcare reform to be a failure, and plans to continue the battle, possibly with the help of Democrats, according to the Associated Press. The recent failure of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) has caused GOP leaders to reinvent their strategy to implement new healthcare legislation by potentially seeking bipartisan support. However, Democrats may not support new reform efforts if the plan is still to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Republican legislators are now facing the issue of upsetting conservatives by discarding ACA repeal efforts or reviving the AHCA, which did not gain the support it needed to pass. Currently, GOP lawmakers are divided on the best way to move forward, with some wishing to move on to other issues and others hoping to devise a bill that would appease both conservatives and moderates. The decision about how to best move forward may risk the Republican majority if the party’s voters are upset about the legislation and Democrats storm the polls, The New York Times reported.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recently reduced the number of shots in the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to only 2 for children aged 9 to 14. Physicians and public health advocates are hopeful that the new dosing schedule and more effective vaccine would increase the uptake of the vaccine, according to Kaiser Health News. Although the HPV vaccine, Gardasil 9, can prevent approximately 90% of cervical cancers and other HPV-related cancers, the vaccine has not been heavily used for various reasons.