Hello from the Common Health Coalition! The 2-4-2 Digest is a weekly snapshot for health leaders - 4 key insights in 2 minutes or with 2 swipes on your phone.

Weekly Health Insights

ACIP: The next ACIP meeting will be held this Thursday and Friday, December 4–5, and will revisit proposals to delay the hepatitis B birth dose, discuss the childhood immunization schedule, and review ingredients such as aluminum adjuvants. Read The Vaccine Integrity Project’s new Hep B Evidence brief here, and The Evidence Collective’s ACIP Pre-Bunk here. 

Measles: The U.S. may soon lose its measles elimination status as cases rise and vaccination coverage declines. In South Carolina, mobile vaccine units deployed during the current outbreak saw limited turnout, amid a national backdrop of mixed public messaging and steadily increasing school vaccine exemptions. 

ACA Subsidies: Congress returned to session yesterday and is revisiting extending enhanced ACA subsidies. Insurers have already priced plans assuming the subsidies will expire. KFF estimates that without an extension, annual premium payments could more than double from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.

Food Insecurity: Even with SNAP benefits restored, many Indigenous communities continue to face high food insecurity, with 46% of Indigenous Americans struggling to afford food each year compared to about 10% of the general U.S. population. The recent SNAP disruption forced tribes to divert limited resources.

Colleague Corner

A new HepVu analysis finds that delaying the hepatitis B birth dose could lead to substantial increases in preventable infections, deaths, and healthcare costs, even with short delays. The findings highlight the birth dose as a critical component of early-life hepatitis B prevention.

“By quantifying the real-world consequences of delaying the hepatitis B birth dose, including thousands of preventable infections and hundreds of millions in avoidable healthcare costs, this analysis offers a clear, data-driven tool to inform policy discussions and ensure that all infants receive the timely protection they need.”

– Michaela Jackson, Program Director, Prevention Policy, Hepatitis B Foundation

Data Watch

A national cohort study of 162,422 telemedicine PrEP users found that telePrEP has rapidly expanded to account for 19% of all PrEP use in the U.S. by 2024, up from just 2% in 2020. But retention has declined over time, with only 42% of users remaining engaged at 3 months and 28% at 6 months in 2023-2024.

Figure 3. Annual Telemedicine Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Retention and Reinitiation by Calendar Year of Initiation

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