Maha’s big reversal and a Scotus decision on tariffs
From Swamp Notes by Financial Times
February 20, 2026 · 22 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the FDA's reversal on a flu vaccine and the Supreme Court's decision on tariffs under the Trump administration.
The US Food and Drug Administration last week said it would not consider a new flu vaccine for public distribution. But a few days later, it changed course. Is that reversal part of a larger change in the Trump administration’s efforts to ‘Make America Healthy Again’? The FT’s US Pharmaceuticals Correspondent Patrick Temple-West and US Managing Editor Brooke Masters explain. Plus, the FT’s James Politi decodes the Supreme Court’s decision on Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Mentioned in this podcast: Trump administration reverses move to block Moderna flu vaccine trial White House launches TrumpRx as drug companies warn of sales hit Sign up for the FT’s Swamp Notes newsletter here Swamp Notes is hosted by Marc Filippino and produced by Henry Larson. We had help this week from Lauren Fedor and Maneula Saragosa. This week’s show was mixed by Sam Giovinco. Special thanks to Pierre Nicholson. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz and the FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts. CREDIT: MS NOW, CNN, Forbes, @SecKennedy on X, Associated Press Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy…
People in this episode
Host: Marc Filippino
Guests: Patrick Temple-West, Brooke Masters
Topics covered
- US Pharmaceuticals
- Trump administration
- Supreme Court
- health policy
- tariffs
- flu vaccine
Keywords
- FDA
- flu vaccine
- Trump administration
- tariffs
- health policy
- Supreme Court
- Moderna
- TrumpRx
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: US Food and Drug Administration, Trump administration, Moderna, TrumpRx, Financial Times, CNN, Forbes, Associated Press
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