O. Rose Broderick

Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna's flu vaccine application The rejection is the latest instance of Vinay Prasad overruling career FDA scientists to place vaccines under harsher scrutiny.

Why was Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine rejected?

@lizzylawrence.bsky.social has learned that top Food and Drug Administration official Vinay Prasad overruled agency officials who wanted to review it

www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...

ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.

NEW: ICE is leasing offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained.

We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

gradient.horse Draw a horse, watch it run!

omg everybody go draw a horse this is what the internet was made for

gradient.horse

Re-upping an older piece to illustrate that Covid precautions - especially for athletes - are not “extreme”. It’s not just about performance on the day of competition; long Covid can literally cost athletes their careers

We found at least 18 of the drugs on TrumpRx have cheaper generics available ranging from potential savings of over $600 for Tikosyn to just around $2 for Diflucan. Most of the drugs are made by Pfizer.

So about TrumpRx: We crunched the numbers today and about half of the drugs on there have cheaper generics available already. www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/t...

The FDA Quietly Slapped More Restrictions on the Birth Control Implant The agency recently approved Nexplanon for up to five years of use—but it also imposed extra regulations that leave some providers worried.

NEW: Trump's FDA recently approved Nexplanon for five years of use, but it quietly added extra regulations that leave some providers worried about access. The agency imposed a REMS program that only exists for 73 other drugs—including medication abortion.

@garnethenderson.com in @autonomynews.co:

Amid federal pressure, more hospitals stop gender-affirming care for minors A STAT analysis found more than 40 hospitals have paused or ceased to offer some gender-affirming care to young people since President Trump took office

More and more hospitals and health systems are ending gender-affirming care for trans kids. Important reporting from @theresagaff.bsky.social!

www.statnews.com/2026/02/05/h...

applying for an journalism job is a lost cause because 500 people all equally or more so talented than you are your direct competitors. every journalism job application may as well be playing the lottery.

A lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.

sports coverage is not about box scores anymore. it's about power and politics and corruption and sovereign wealth and real estate and the use of taxpayer money and the most publicized labor disputes in the country and yes, sometimes about ball go in hoop

did I miss the story that laid out which Democrats worked for this behind closed doors?

great story from @danielpayne.bsky.social

Fearing ICE crackdown, immigrants nationally are avoiding treatment, sometimes with dire consequences Doctors nationally are describing harrowing consequences for patients who put off medical care because of fears of ICE.

Immigrants are avoiding treatment due to fears of being picked up by ICE

www.statnews.com/2026/02/03/i...

Text reads: For years, the committee was "led by people on the more high-functioning side of the spectrum," said Jacqueline Kancir, executive director of the National Council on Severe Autism and the parent of a profoundly autistic 22-year-old daughter. "There are a lot of parents out there that are jumping for joy, feeling like they've finally been heard," Ms. Kancir said. "However, it also could be retribution. Time really will tell." Georgia Gee, Apoorva Mandavilli and Christina Jewett contributed reporting. Azeen Ghorayshi is a Times science reporter.

The kicker on the NYT coverage of the new IACC is embarrassingly bad.

“The chelation vaccine hyperbaric oxygen gluten people represent us more than ASAN or Autism Society” is just brain worms. How is that the last word on a panel filled with kooks and quacks?

ICE Brutally Dragged This Disabled Woman Out of Her Car. What Happened Next Was Just As Chilling. “They laughed at me and told me this wouldn’t have happened if I was a ‘normal’ human being,” Aliya Rahman tells The Nation.

After brutally arresting Aliya Rahman, an autistic, disabled woman, in Minneapolis, ICE agents told her that "this wouldn’t have happened if I was a ‘normal’ human being."
https://bit.ly/3ZHX3IC

How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are

A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.

Nine states challenge federal mandate that disabled people receive care in community A lawsuit from nine states seeks to undercut a federal mandate that people with disabilities receive care in their communities.

The lawsuit that never ends:

States are suing the federal govt to try and end the integration mandate in Section 504, which ensures ppl with disabilities receive care in their homes and communities.

www.statnews.com/2026/01/29/s...

Screenshot reading: Science Journalism Fellowships and Internships This is a non-exhaustive list of science journalism / science communications internships and fellowships one might reasonably apply to with minimal formal experience (e.g., as a student) or with one fellowship (e.g., the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship) and some freelancing under one’s belt. Science journalism fellowships AAAS Mass Media Fellowship Summer internship (June – August) for STEM undergrad students, grad students, postdocs, residents, deadline Jan 1 Based at sites around the country Nature News Two 6-month internships: Jan – June (deadline in October), July – Dec

Please reshare! Here's the first in a series of science writing resources I'm posting to my website: A list of science writing/communication internships & fellowships.

brittanytrang.com/science-jour...

#sciencejournalism #scicomm #scicommjobs #journojobs #sciencewriting #sciwri #stem

The main thing that these 21 (not 19, sorry typo) new members have in common? Most of them have publicly expressed or belong to groups that have publicly expressed a belief in the debunked claim that vaccines can cause autism.

www.statnews.com/2026/01/28/k...

It's also curious lacking any representatives from the big autism research or advocacy orgs. No Simon's Foundation, no Autism Speaks, not even the Autism Science Foundation.

www.hhs.gov/press-room/h...

Key autism committee is being reshaped to support Kennedy's vaccine agenda, researchers and advocates fear Researchers and advocates fear a key autism committee is being reshaped to support Kennedy's vaccine agenda.

HHS just added 19 members to the committee that advises Kennedy on autism. As I reported last week, it's heavy on MAHA allies. (Link to new members below.)

www.statnews.com/2026/01/23/k...

How 'gas station drugs' remain legal How did gas stations became the perfect marketplace for quasi-legal drugs? STAT's Alex Hogan explains on STATus Report.

An explainer by @alexhogan.bsky.social of why there’s a wide array of gray market products alongside motor oil and snacks www.statnews.com/2026/01/28/h...

For ‘Love and Knowledge’: On the Frontlines of Trans Cyberspace — Assigned The moderators of trans forums, many of them volunteers, have demonstrated remarkable resilience and resourcefulness over four decades and multiple digital eras.

Some counterprogramming, in a world gone mad:

Trans people have found one another on the internet since the 1980s. This fascinating reported story looks at early internet communities for trans people, how they've changed and evolved, and what doesn't change.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Alex Pretti remembered by health care workers at a Minneapolis vigil as a ‘standup guy’ Health care workers brought flowers and wreaths, lit candles, and draped stethoscopes over a wooden cross as a makeshift memorial to nurse Alex Pretti

@mmolteni.bsky.social with a moving tribute of Alex Pretti, the VA nurse killed by ICE agents on Saturday

www.statnews.com/2026/01/26/a...

Key autism committee is being reshaped to support Kennedy's vaccine agenda, researchers and advocates fear Researchers and advocates fear a key autism committee is being reshaped to support Kennedy's vaccine agenda.

You may not know what the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee is, but it's the central advisory panel for autism in the federal government. @rosebroderick.bsky.social reports that RFK Jr. is loading it up with autism conspiracy theory cranks.
www.statnews.com/2026/01/23/k...

"everyone is talking about machine learning but no one is talking about machine yearning" used to be a joke, but now they are playing it straight

Hey! My beat is changing. I'm still covering LGBTQ+ news, but now I'm focused on how LGBTQ+ people are navigating the American health care system. I'm sure it's going great, right?

If you're struggling with insurance, care costs or access, then I want to hear about it. Text me on Signal @orionr.80

ICE is sending these kids to the concentration camp in Dilley, Texas, where they're preparing to have so many children that they're opening a new school there. They're actively hiring teachers now. I reported on it last month. We have to get people out of there.