Big changes to Head Start could upend early education

0:00Tommy Sheridan:Support for Here and Now Anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software, to design and develop engineered systems, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at mathworks.com.

0:16Dr. Angela Rasmussen:WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

0:20Charles Maynes:We truly are a program that is all across the country and has decades of research that continue to show the incredible efficacy of it, despite what some political bias and political think tanks might say.

0:36Dr. Angela Rasmussen:The government is looking at changes for the nation's early childhood education program. Head Start.

0:53Dr. Angela Rasmussen:It's Thursday, August 6th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WVUR. I'm Chris Bentley.

1:02Dr. Angela Rasmussen:Today on the show, what FDA approval for the first mRNA flu vaccine means for you. And Putin is unrelenting in Ukraine, but Russians are getting tired of war. It's, of course, because of the losses. It's also concerns about Ukrainian drones that are increasing and fatigue with wartime restrictions. It seems like every day there's some new law about what you can't read or can't see or can't watch. The view from Russia coming up in a few minutes. But first, major changes may be coming for the federal government's premier program for preschool and childcare. Head Start provides early education for children from low-income families and has been mostly celebrated by both major political parties since its launch in 1965.

1:49Dr. Angela Rasmussen:The Trump administration's assistant secretary for children and families, Alex Adams, says it's time to deregulate Head Start and give states and parents more control. Yeah, some of the areas where they will have flexibility instead of the one-size-fits-all federal mandates stay on group sizes, child-to-staff ratios, workforce and education requirements, and on and on and on. There is still time for the public to weigh in on the potential changes to the program that now serves more than 700 ,000 kids. Tommy Sheridan is deputy director of the National Head Start Association, a nonprofit that advocates for the program.

2:28Dr. Angela Rasmussen:He told Deborah Becker what the new changes mean.

2:31Charles Maynes:This is one of the largest and most substantial proposals that we've seen in quite a number of years coming to Head Start. But I think what's most important to take away from this is that, first of all, fewer rules cannot mean fewer results. Head Start, as you noted, is one of our nation's most effective social services programs, early childhood programs, for over six decades across multiple presidents, Republicans, Democrats, all the alike, and continues to get strong results for kids and families in every corner of the country. So I think that it's most important to acknowledge, first and foremost, that we're not going anywhere.

3:09Charles Maynes:We're staying open. We're continuing to be that provider of high-quality services to children and families. And, you know, we'll look at what this proposal says. We'll evaluate it. There's an intentional process that it has to go through. And we'll look to navigate that to ensure that kids and families end up even stronger.

3:28Tommy Sheridan:And for those who don't know, what are some of the main things that Head Start does?

3:34Charles Maynes:Yeah, so Head Start is really a comprehensive program in its approach. It was designed in the 1960s with the intention of really supporting young children and their families, kind of a multi-generational program. It is for children, and then in the 1990s it was expanded to provide infant-toddler care as well and services for pregnant women. So it provides services from basically pregnancy up to age five. It is income eligible or for children or families who are experiencing homelessness in the foster care system, eligible for other public benefits such as SNAP or Supplemental Security income. And it really provides them with a strong start, a healthy start to help them be ready for success in school and in life wherever they live across the country.

4:21Tommy Sheridan:Now, HHS says that, you know, this is just giving programs flexibility. and this is cutting administrative overhead. Why are folks so cautious about what these changes might mean?

4:34Charles Maynes:Yeah, well, let's take Head Start for the history that it has. The Head Start program performance standards, which is what is being proposed to be changed in this proposal that came out earlier today and is going to be published tomorrow for public comment. And those standards were first created in the 1970s. And those standards really govern and provide a lot of support, a lot of clarity, a lot of kind of best practices and ways of implementing the Head Start program. And they have been changed over the years, but it has been slow to see some of those changes. I think what this administration has pointed out is that they are intentional, that they would like to see some deregulation.

5:16Charles Maynes:They would like to see the authority transitioned more so into local community providers, which is something that Head Start has long had. Head Start is provided. The services that are provided by Head Start are done on really each community-based community level. They are community-based organizations, could be local governments, could be school districts, could be nonprofit organizations. And every single one of those programs has to have a policy council, meaning a council of Head Start parents that help make the decisions, inform the decisions. That has been the case since the 1960s. That has been actually in the act, the law behind Head Start, which is not changing and not even proposed to be changing in this.

5:55Charles Maynes:So yes, there's going to be some changes. And I'm really excited to spend the next 60 days working with the Head Start community, with program leaders, with staff, with experts, researchers, and most importantly, with parents to understand how they perceive these rules and this proposal, excuse me, and how we are going to, again, make sure that at the end of the day, these fewer rules do not mean fewer results.

6:19Tommy Sheridan:No 60 days are the public comment period for this. But I'm just wondering, in the last minute we have here, you know, Head Start has been in the crosshairs of the Heritage Foundation. Do you worry that this is a step toward dismantling the program?

6:32Charles Maynes:You know, I really don't. And the reason on that is because Head Start has such strong benefits and such strong support in every corner of the country. You know, the recent polling that one of our colleagues at the First Five Years Fund did showed that 87 percent of all voters strongly support Head Start. And the reason on that is because they know Head Start. It's in their backyard. They see the results. They talk with folks who may have gone to Head Start themselves. Maybe they have worked in Head Start. I mean, we truly are a program that is all across the country and has decades of research that continue to show the incredible efficacy of it, despite what some, you know, political bias and political think tanks might say.

7:10Tommy Sheridan:All right, Tommy Sheridan, Deputy Director of the National Head Start Association. It's an advocacy nonprofit. Tommy, thanks for being with us.

7:18Charles Maynes:Thanks for having me.

7:27Dr. Angela Rasmussen:Coming up, there's a new flu vaccine using mRNA technology that could make it more adaptable to the fast-changing strains of that seasonal virus. Scott Tong finds out how the new vaccine works and who can get it after the break.

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8:50Charles Maynes:A new kind of flu shot is on the way. The FDA approved the first flu vaccine based on mRNA technology. It's the same technology behind COVID vaccines that came quickly in late 2020. This new flu vaccine comes from Moderna, and it's approved for adults 50 and over. Virologist Angela Rasmussen has been following this from the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. Angela, welcome back to the program.

9:17Tommy Sheridan:Thanks for having me, Scott.

9:19Charles Maynes:So a first flu shot using mRNA technology coming. How significant is this?

9:24Tommy Sheridan:So I think this is really significant. We have been developing influenza vaccines for a really long time, and we have had new technology come forth. The oldest technology is actually still used. That's where we grow flu vaccines in fertilized chicken eggs. We've also developed recombinant methods over the years, but they all more or less have the same efficacy. You know, it all hovers around, you know, sort of around 50 percent-ish most years. And just to pause you, 50 percent, what does that mean? So that means that 50 percent of the people who get the vaccine will be protected against influenza virus.

10:04Tommy Sheridan:So they won't get sick. of the people who do get influenza virus who've been vaccinated, they won't get as sick. And that's data that actually the CDC gathers and calculates every year. So we actually know from year to year how efficacious these vaccines are. What's exciting about the mRNA vaccine is not only is it the mRNA technology, which is extremely rapid to develop, so it's easy to update, but it actually appears that in the phase three clinical trial, excuse me, that this vaccine was actually superior to the other existing flu vaccine that was tested, showing that it actually provides better protection.

10:41Charles Maynes:Yeah, yeah. So the clinical trial found that this mRNA vaccine, about 27 % more effective than a standard dose of vaccines, reported some side effects, injection site pain, fever, headache. So in regular English, kind of how much better does this seem to be?

10:58Tommy Sheridan:So it's about 30 % better than the protection, at least in this clinical trial that a conventional flu vaccine made by Glaxo provided. Now, the side effect profile that you mentioned is actually not terribly surprising because we do know that sometimes these mRNA vaccines can have a more reactogenic profile, meaning they have more side effects. But that actually might be a good thing in some cases because it does suggest that it stimulates stronger immune responses.

11:27Charles Maynes:Yeah. And you mentioned the speed here. And let me kind of ask you about the implications, right? We learned in the pandemic, one of the big advantages of mRNA technology was it let scientists develop coronavirus vaccines much more quickly. And here I'm reading, you know, it could be two to three months to produce a flu vaccine instead of the typical six months or so. So with regard to the flu, how much more of an advantage could this speed be?

11:54Tommy Sheridan:So last year's flu season is a great example to point to in this situation. Last year, just as flu season was getting started, we learned about a new variant, essentially of H3N2, that emerged called subclade K. And it was fairly evasive from the vaccine that had already been developed for last year's flu season. So that was kind of a mismatch. In this case, we could actually wait until closer to flu season to make those decisions. So we might actually even be able to update the vaccine in time for an emerging variant like that.

12:27Charles Maynes:Closer to when these turn out have a better chance of being kind of the one that a lot of people get. Exactly. There have been apparent politics here. Earlier this year, the FDA said, no, we're not going to review this drug application. Then it changed course after Moderna publicly challenged the ruling. And then the FDA advisory panel, they voted yes unanimously in favor of this drug. We know the health secretary, RFK Jr., has unorthodox views on vaccines. With this approval, Angela, do you sense the politics are behind us or no?

13:04Tommy Sheridan:I don't think the politics are behind us at all, unfortunately. There's nothing whatsoever to suggest, including a very recent interview on CNN, that the Secretary of Health and Human Services has changed his views about vaccine. And I would argue that rather than unorthodox, I would say that he is opposed to vaccination and especially mRNA vaccination. So I think that this is a great example of the public, actually, the importance of the public getting to take a look at the evidence, because the evidence for this vaccine very clearly shows that it is superior to existing flu vaccines and would offer a tremendous benefit for the American people.

13:41Tommy Sheridan:The decision to regulate this based on political views is really not supported by the evidence that we have about how well this vaccine would actually work and how many American lives it would save. So I think it's really important to make sure that Americans continue to have access to this information, because when we demand to have access to vaccines that we know work, we tend to get them regardless of the politics.

14:08Charles Maynes:And briefly, what future mRNA vaccines could be on the way for, say, HIV or cancer?

14:14Tommy Sheridan:So, yeah, absolutely. Cancer, I think, is one of the most promising applications of this technology. And even though that's not my field, there have been incredible clinical trial results lately. So I really do hope that the administration overall changes its perspective on this, because certainly for emerging viruses like the ones I study, these vaccines have tremendous application potential as well.

14:35Charles Maynes:Angela Rasmussen is a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan. Angela, always good to have you. Thanks so much.

14:42Tommy Sheridan:Thank you, Scott.

14:53Dr. Angela Rasmussen:Coming up next, Deb Becker gets an update on the war in Ukraine and how shortages of fuel and manpower are wearing down the Russian military. Stick around.

15:13Tommy Sheridan:Today, Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least 11 people and injured several dozen more. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones hit two Russian oil refineries and an online retail warehouse, part of a wider campaign against Russian energy and commercial infrastructure. It's been more than four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and there are a few signs that this conflict might end anytime soon. To talk more about the state of the war, we're joined by NPR's Russia correspondent, Charles Maines. He's on the line from Moscow. Welcome.