Liz Zuccala

War wounds caused by explosive weapons in Gaza: data from a 2024 study by Médecins Sans Frontières As of July 23, 2025, Israel's military assault on Gaza has killed over 59 219 Palestinians, wounded an additional 143 045, and displaced nearly all of the 2·1 million people who live there.1 Triangula...

Today published in the @thelancet.com , our overview of medical consultation related to woud care over 2024 in Gaza, lot of trauma cause by explosive weapons that don't belong in Urban settings. Proud of our teams.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Ousted vaccine panel members say rigorous science is being abandoned Seventeen experts ousted from a U.S. vaccine committee are expressing little faith in what the panel has become. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.

The former vaccine panel members wrote in a commentary that Kennedy — a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before becoming the U.S. government’s top health official — and his new panel are abandoning rigorous scientific review and open deliberation.
apnews.com/article/vacc...

The First Planned Migration of an Entire Country Is Underway The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu could be submerged in 25 years due to rising sea levels, so a plan is being implemented to relocate its population to Australia.

The first planned migration of an entire country due to climate change is happening! Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, is at risk of being submerged under rising sea level, so it has signed an agreement with Australia to allow 280 Tuvaluans to settle in Australia as permanent residents each year.

there's an actual genre of analysis that acknowledges that for generations people used to buy and sell other humans, aided by a comprehensive system of apartheid that continued for generations later, but nevertheless blames the resurgence of open bigotry on a decade or so of cringe Tumblr posts

Scrolling EPA’s research newsletter. Huge impact everywhere.

Take this example of EPA showing common household cleaners may affect kids’ brain development 🧠

Now we won’t have that 🤷🏼‍♂️
www.epa.gov/sciencematte...

For the third time, Vinay Prasad reportedly overrules scientists and evidence-based policies

Decolonisation of global health must include civil society Power and resource imbalances experienced by African non-government organisations must be remedied to ensure that people with lived experience in the global south can participate meaningfully in creat...

“lived experience must be considered a form of expertise”

www.bmj.com/content/390/...

An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination | NEJM To the Editor: In their Sounding Board article (June 26 issue),1 Prasad and Makary ignore the fact that the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection extend beyond acute outcomes such as hospitalization and de...

Responses to the Sounding Board piece by Prasad and Makary are now posted:
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Had I known that character limits would be so liberal I would have submitted a response, but these replies hit on all the key points.

As women have far fewer babies, the U.S. and the world face unprecedented challenges Far more families are choosing to have fewer — or no — children. Many countries, including the U.S., now face a rapidly aging population that could begin to shrink.

This headline blames women & defines declining fertility as a problem. A smaller global population & footprint on the planet benefits the environment. There is also more individual freedom, women's economic empowerment & less adolescents giving birth. www.npr.org/2025/07/07/n...

Am I on the list? Clinician‐reported factors for kidney transplantation non‐waitlisting among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with kidney failure: a cross‐sectional study Transplantation equity requires a prioritised investment in system and quality improvements, from enhanced referral and assessment pathways to optimising all elements of care and ongoing accountabilit...

New @mja.com.au paper out now: Am I on the list?
Clinician-reported reasons for non-waitlisting in kidney transplantation

This is the first national analysis of the reasons why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aren't activated on the waitlist. Read more:

www.mja.com.au/journal/2025...

Will miracle HIV drug go on the PBS? A new twice-yearly antiviral injection that can prevent HIV is likely to be approved soon in Australia. Making it affordable will be the next challenge.

“This is a dramatically powerful tool,” says Sharon Lewin, former president of the International AIDS Society. But cost, access, and policy remain the biggest hurdles to bringing the full benefits of antiretroviral HIV prevention drug lenacapavir to those who need it most. http://satpa.pe/A6Qj52w

How is the BBC doing a better job at this than any Australian news outlet? www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trump team axes contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature The action comes as high-ranking US officials criticize top journals as ‘woke’ and ‘corrupt’.

Trump team axes contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature

At first, NIH told me its contracts with SN were active and that they help “advance scientific discovery”.

Hours later, HHS said the opposite: "Precious taxpayer dollars should not be used on unused subscriptions to junk science.”

Orban banned it, so even more people turned out

Did not expect this from the normally very conservative AMA. Good!

The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, empowered by RFK Jr., is just getting started The ACIP, the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel newly empowered by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is just getting started.

You can't make this stuff up.
Fortunately, my brilliant colleague @jasonmast.bsky.social, was around to explain to you all what happened at the first meeting of the new #ACIP. www.statnews.com/2025/06/26/c...

In the face of anti-science politics, silence is not without cost More scientific leaders need to speak out about anti-science agendas and threats to academic freedom across the world.

“Having the freedom to defend science is a privilege. Those who have it owe it to everyone the world over to make their voices heard.” Our editorial calling for global academies to speak out like the Pontifical Academy just did - www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science These graphics will guide you through science-based vaccine guidelines for children and adults

Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪

A single shot of a flu drug could outperform vaccines—and protect for an entire season One injection of a long-lasting drug showed up to 76% efficacy in a large trial

“In a study that enrolled 5000 healthy adults before the flu season started and followed them until after it ended, the highest dose of the drug provided 76.1% protection from disease, compared with a placebo shot, its developer, Cidara Therapeutics, reported in a press release& on an investor call”

Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause | Nesrine Malik The political centre sees the US and Israel’s war on Iran as a crisis to be managed, while the gap between their detached politics and bloody rhetoric widens, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

Excellent by @nesrinemalik.bsky.social on the moral vacuum at the heart of Western governments. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

just saw a group of masked men stuffing masked ICE agents into an unmarked car, who were saying "we're ICE we're ICE!" but the abductors shouted to the crowd "no we're ICE!" no one knew who was ICE, so no one in the crowd said anything.

Technology to enforce teen social media ban is ‘effective’, trial says. But this is at odds with other evidence

The trial’s preliminary findings are hard to square with other evidence.

What could be achieved in Austraia if ischaemic stroke was identified by EMS in women with the same level of accuracy received by men?

An estimated 252 life years and 144 QALYs gained, and cost savings of $5.4 million, each year:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/...

Via @mja.com.au

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at a Crossroads In this Viewpoint, former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) caution that the sudden change in the ACIP may reverse the achievements of US immunization policy, includin...

The 17 recently dismissed members of ACIP have written a letter do JAMA expressing their concerns about the abrupt dismissal and replacement 2 days later of 8 individuals.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

Five graphs that show how the cost of seeing a doctor has skyrocketed Australians are now paying more than $600 out-of-pocket for some specialist appointments. A new study shows who it’s affecting the most.

Great report from @grattaninstitute.bsky.social on the ↗️ cost of seeing a specialist

Upgrading Medical Costs Finder Website will help people to compare fees but the deeper issue to address: the absolute lack of public options + huge waiting lists affecting some 🇦🇺n's
www.smh.com.au/national/fiv...

Exclusive: PBS listings frozen over Trump’s executive order Industry sources reveal drug companies have stopped negotiating listings on the PBS and in some cases are considering not listing in Australia as they seek to lift profits under Trump.

Drug companies have reportedly stopped negotiating listings on the PBS and in some cases are considering not listing in Australia as they seek to lift profits under Trump:

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/...

via @thesaturdaypaper.com.au

Exclusive: US seeks to gut UN development goals American negotiators proposed hundreds of amendments aimed at reversing prior commitments to achieving U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

This is outrageous and must be condemned by all nations!

US seeks to gut UN Sustainable Development Goals development

www.devex.com/news/exclusi...

Reminder that saying you stand for #EDI is different than delivering it

The #GenderPayGap favouring men of the largest science publishers have persisted for 8 yrs of mandatory reporting.

In 2024

Elsevier 32.8%
Springer-Nature 9.5%
Wiley 17.7%
&
BMJ 11.9%
Wellcome 15.7%

RFK Jr. taps allies and COVID vaccine critics among picks for CDC advisory panel. Here's who's on the list. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the previous roster of the CDC's vaccine advisers on Monday.

“Kennedy's picks circumvented the usual CDC process for selecting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP. In previous administrations, career agency officials — not political leaders — vetted potential experts before forwarding them to the department”