Health and Science Highlights

February 14, 2026 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• A ‘shadow CDC’ is scrambling to fill gaps in public health data  (Scientific American)
• California to join WHO health network in rebuke of Trump (Politico)
• Measles cases on the rise across California as health officials urge vaccination (KCRA)
• Moderna says FDA refuses its application for new mRNA flu vaccine (AP)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• ICE's chilling new social media strategy uncovered as expert slams 'insidious' policy (The Mirror US)
• Inspector General Investigating Whether ICE's Surveillance Tech Breaks the Law (404 Media)
• FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled (404 Media)
• Amazon scraps partnership with surveillance company after Super Bowl ad backlash (AP)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

A ‘shadow CDC’ is scrambling to fill gaps in public health data  (Scientific American)

Scientific American - Dozens of routinely updated CDC databases have gone quiet. Here’s what states and medical societies are doing to preserve U.S. public health.

California to join WHO health network in rebuke of Trump (Politico)

 Gavin Newsom said Friday that California is joining the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, marking the state’s first formal partnership with the WHO’s international public health arm and the latest move by the governor to cast California as a counterweight to the Trump administration’s health policy agenda.

Measles cases on the rise across California as health officials urge vaccination (KCRA)

State health officials note an outbreak of measles in Shasta County, and two recent cases that visited Disneyland.

Moderna says FDA refuses its application for new mRNA flu vaccine (AP)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is refusing to consider Moderna’s application for a new flu vaccine made with Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology, the company announced Tuesday.  The news is the latest sign of the FDA’s heightened scrutiny of vaccines under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr….  Moderna received what’s called a “refusal-to-file” letter from the FDA that objected to how it conducted a 40,000-person clinical trial comparing its new vaccine to one of the standard flu shots used today. That trial concluded the new vaccine was somewhat more effective in adults 50 and older than that standard shot. 

SCIENCE AND TECH

ICE's chilling new social media strategy uncovered as expert slams 'insidious' policy (The Mirror US)

 Under a program called "masked engagement," Homeland security officers are now able to assume false identities and interact with social media users in a variety of ways, according to DHS documents leaked to investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein.  A new tool reportedly allows agents to friend social media users and join closed groups in order to gain access to what would otherwise be private posts, images, friends lists and more. More than 6,500 field agents and intelligence operatives can use it….

Inspector General Investigating Whether ICE's Surveillance Tech Breaks the Law (404 Media)

The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General is investigating potential privacy abuses associated with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s surveillance and biometric data programs, according to a letter sent to two senators.

FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled (404 Media)

 The FBI has been unable to access a Washington Post reporter’s seized iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode, a sometimes overlooked feature that makes iPhones broadly more secure….The court record shows what devices and data the FBI was able to ultimately access, and which devices it could not, after raiding the home of the reporter, Hannah Natanson, in January…

Amazon scraps partnership with surveillance company after Super Bowl ad backlash (AP)

Amazon’s smart doorbell maker Ring has terminated a partnership with police surveillance tech company Flock Safety.  The announcement follows a backlash that erupted after a 30-second Ring ad that aired during the Super Bowl featuring a lost dog that is found through a network of cameras, sparking fears of a dystopian surveillance society.