M_Deming

NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook The old one failed to cope with Covid and may even have caused it.

A new approach to pandemic preparedness:

1️⃣ Stop preparing for pandemics
2️⃣ Rewrite history of the last major pandemic
3️⃣ Go to the gym

Simple - 🤷‍♂️.

www.city-journal.org/article/nih-...

The new approach is essentially to stick your head in the sand and go to the gym as a model for pandemic preparedness.

Suffice to say, such a model will not work, but I don't want to belabor the point - I have made it many times already. E.g., here:

bsky.app/profile/kgan...

Well now, would you look at that?

A massive study of NEARLY 300,000 people in the United States found that receiving an updated 2024-2025 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine REDUCED people’s risk of severe disease AND death in ALL age groups, REGARDLESS of immunity from prior infection or vaccination.

Ellis:
"It is difficult to see how an injunction ordering the government to comply with the Constitution can be harmful."

Director Bhattacharya "Let's fund emerging investigators"

Yeah, who's the idiot running NIH who allowed 15% or few fewer early stage investigators be funded in FY2025 compared to FY2024?

(Estimate: The official numbers are not yet available (at least publicly)

The 10 Best Sci-Fi Shows of The 21st Century | The Mary Sue It's the 21st century, and you know what that means! It means we're closer than ever to the sci-fi future of tomorrow! But will that future be utopian or

No notes. :) The 10 Best Sci-Fi Shows of The 21st Century www.themarysue.com/the-10-best-...

Many people are outraged that Trump is demolishing part of the White House. But of course Trump can't do it without help. It's ACECO LLC of Silver Spring MD ("full-service demolition") that is tearing down the People's House. You can call them and let them know how you feel. 1/

Map: Governors Public Health Alliance * Guam is also a member of the alliance Updated October 15, 2025 Map: @luckytran • Created with Datawrapper

15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.

Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.

Zero Regard for Safety, ICE Escalation in Chicago Leaves Baby in Harm’s Way🇺🇸

Los Angeles County declares state of emergency over immigration raids Los Angeles County officials voted on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over ongoing federal immigration raids.

To be clear:

LA County has declared a state of emergency BECAUSE OF the federal government.

The Feds, LA County is (correctly) saying, have CAUSED the emergency.

This is a striking political moment of internal collapse. Local govts feeling compelled to protect their ppl from … their own govt.

E.P.A. Canceled $20 Million Flood Protection Grant to Alaska, Parts of Which Just Flooded The remote village of Kipnuk planned to use the money to protect against flooding. On Sunday, it was inundated.

Months before catastrophic floods swept through an Alaska Native village on Sunday, the Trump administration canceled a $20 million grant meant to protect the community from extreme flooding. At the time, the EPA administrator said he was eliminating "wasteful DEI and Environmental Justice grants."

NHANES runs mobile clinics that travel the country measuring height, weight, & blood pressure while collecting blood and urine samples. These samples are our only national source for tracking everything from blood sugar to hormones, heavy metals, and more.

The entire operation has been eliminated.

MMWR stole the show in the first round of headlines about CDC cuts but in the chaos, many missed that the NHANES mobile team remains RIF'd. This is the backbone of this key survey that contains some of the only representative anthropometric, biochemical, clinical and dietary data on the country.

Arizona attorney general threatens legal action against Mike Johnson for failing to seat Adelita Grijalva The Democrat accused Johnson of playing “political games” by delaying the swearing-in ceremony.

👏👏 Damn right, call him on his BS.

Wait, WHAT? The IRB gone. The IRB!

What an extraordinarily dangerous, harmful, unethical bunch of MAGA and MAHA lackeys we now have running US public health, healthcare, and health research; they have totally lost their moral compass (assuming they once had one?).

Ebola disease WHO fact sheet on Ebola: key facts, definition, transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, WHO response.

RIFed:

Several CDC staff currently working on an Ebola outbreak overseas.

You know — the ones literally helping contain and prevent it from spreading. (Like, to the U.S.)

Trust us: dying from Ebola is a MISERABLE way to die.

RIFed:

LLS - Laboratory Leadership Service

Y’know, another crucial hands-on and practical training program where fellows hone their laboratory expertise and skills.

Yet another blow for when the next novel disease outbreak comes…..

So fucking short sighted.

RIFed: National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Office of Director

OD sets tone for the rest of the center, determine priorities, review high profile science, etc

NCIRD focuses: Flu. Whooping cough. Polio. Covid. Meningitis.

Yeah, you want this center to fully function 🤯

Global Health Center CDC's Global Health Center works 24/7 to reduce illness and respond to health threats worldwide.

RIFed:
Global Health Center - Office of the Director

GHC works to reduce illness and respond to health threats worldwide - BECAUSE HEALTH ISSUES WORLDWIDE WILL AFFECT THE USA AS WELL.
(and also, it’s the right thing to do)

GHC’s leadership - gone. Doesn’t seem efficient (or wise) to me.

Beating Back the Devil Check out Beating Back the Devil - <B>The universal human instinct is to run from an outbreak of disease like Ebola. These doctors run toward it. Their job is to stop epidemics from happening.</B><BR>...

RIFed
Civilians in Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS)-CDC’s Disease Detectives

Read about this rigorous training program 👇
"They are not household names but over the years they were first to confront the outbreaks that became known as hantavirus, Ebola & AIDS."

This decision will haunt our future

Infographic saying: Measles Alert. The US is approaching a tipping point - we may lose our measles elimination status. What is "Measles Elimination"? "Elimination means no continuous endemic transmission of measles for <12 months despite importations. The U.S. was declared to have eliminated measles in 2000. But elimination is not "forever" - if the virus begins sustained transmission again, the status can be revoked. Why the US is now at risk: 2025 is seeing the highest measles caseload in decades - over 1,544 confirmed cases as of Sept. 30. Many outbreaks are clustering in under-vaccinated communities. Measles is extremely transmissible, so her immunity needs very high coverage (>92-95%) to block sustained spread. What losing elimination means - and why it matters: Measles becomes endemic again: regular spread, more severe outcomes, and greater health impact. The public health burden increases; contact tracing, outbreak response, surveillance costs, and strain on local health systems.

We are reaching the tipping point with continued measles outbreaks throughout the U.S. If they continue (bad news: under this administration, that's nearly guaranteed), we are at risk of losing our elimination status. What that means in the info-graphic, below.

Mother fucker! The House has been in session only 15 days since July.

Its October!

GOP are loser slackers! Imagine if you only showed up to your job 15 days in 4 months.
They get 175k a year in salary.

#GOPShutdown

Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse disrupted light-dark cycles for North American birds during the lead-up to spring reproduction. Compiling more than 10,000 community observations and artificial ...

I have to fan-girl for a minute here. My friend @rosvall-lab.bsky.social built an app to gather data on bird behavior during the 2024 solar eclipse. 10,000+ citizen scientists contributed (including my kids), and the resulting paper was published in Science today!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Moral Authority of Marc Rowan The private equity billionaire is leading a boycott of an Ivy League oligarch factory over a Palestinian literary festival it held last month.

Here is the tale of how he ran one hospital chain into the ground. It's gruesome reading. He is not a good person. 2/ prospect.org/power/2023-1...

It is pretty galling that the Supreme Court spent four years telling Biden "you can't do that without Congress" then allowed Trump to seize a once-unthinkable amount of power from Congress within nine months and concentrate law-making authority almost entirely in the executive branch.

Another great graphic from the Wild to Mild campaign. This one shows an elk (Wild) and a baby deer (mild). It says A Flu vaccine can take flu from Wild to Mild. In smaller print - “talk to your health care provider to tame the worst of the flu"

Flu shot: not perfect but a hell of a lot better than the ICU. 💉

Vax efficacy depends on flu strain circulating.
’24-25 flu season - especially severe. Luckily 💉was 56% effective against getting flu.

🚨 W/ the vax, even when flu hits, it hits softer🚨
(i.e. less likely to be hospitalized/in ICU/die)

This was SUCH a great campaign from the CDC. It’s the Wild to mild vaccine. This poster shows a tiger and a cute little cat. The wording says “A flu vaccine can take flu from Wild to mild” More info here about this fabulous campaign: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/whats-new/2023-2024-new-campaign-wild-to-mild.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fflu-resources%2Fphp%2Fshareable-resources%2Findex.html

It’s flu season! Get your shot today 💉

🔗 getmyflushot.org

💉💚💉

(Remember when “get your flu shot” came with great PSAs instead of conspiracy threads?)

One should assume, if one had not already, that every single thing the GOP has to say about pretty much anything is a lie or fabrication.