Welcome to Wellness on Mass. I'm Dr. Nicole Sapphire and this is your weekly rundown.

Health and Human Services Secretary, RFK Jr., has announced an ambitious new initiative, saying every American should wear a health tracking device within four years.

We're talking about smart watches, fitness trackers, and glucose monitors.

What's the goal?

To empower patients with real-time data, focusing on prevention and potentially reducing

alliance on costly medications like OZempic, which can run over $1,000 a month.

But this initiative raises some questions.

Are we ready for the privacy implications?

Will our data be stored securely or sold to third parties? Will every patient truly benefit?

Now, wearables have been a game changer for some, especially those with diabetes. But skepticism is

growing online about surveillance and data security and whether this is the answer

for long-term success of achieving improved health. We are going to do a deep dive into this next

week, so before you run out and get one of these expensive wearables, make sure you tune in.

Next up, in a surprising move announced at the Gavi Summit in Brussels, RFK Jr. stated the

United States will halt contributions until vaccine safety concerns are addressed. Gavi is a public

private partnership that works to increase access to immunization in poor countries. It aims to vaccinate

children against preventable diseases

and has helped immunized over a billion children since its founding in 2000. Gavi brings together

governments, the private sector, and other organizations to achieve its goal. But RFK Jr. is criticizing

the global health organization for ignoring vaccine safety concerns, saying

it must re-earn the public trust before U.S. funding can resume. However, he did not give

specifics on how to achieve this metric. Now, this is significant because the U.S. has been

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