Matt Wynia

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and 4-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Adults in France This cohort study uses the data from all adults aged 18 to 59 years living in France on November 1, 2021, to evaluate whether there is an association of receipt of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with long-t...

"In this cohort study including 22.7 million vaccinated individuals and 5.9 million unvaccinated individuals, vaccinated individuals had a 74% lower risk of death from severe COVID-19 and no increased risk of all-cause mortality over a median follow-up of 45 months."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

What am I missing? Does anyone else think the #FightingIrish are acting like kindergarteners?

I Left the CDC 100 Days Ago. My Worst Fears About the Agency Are Coming True "Things have not improved," writes Dr. Debra Houry. "They have worsened. And Congress has still failed to act."

“…we have enough data points to know this is not a series of isolated missteps. It is a purposeful reshaping of CDC away from evidence-based practice and toward ideology-driven governance.”
time.com/7338714/dr-d...

The Ritual of Civic Apology More than a century after driving out their Chinese residents, cities across the West are saying sorry, with parks, plaques, and proclamations. But it’s seldom clear who they’re talking to—or what the...

"Tacoma’s expulsion of its Chinese community was not just an act of local violence—it was part of a national project of racial exclusion.

More than a century later, the city has no Chinatown, but it does have an immigrant-detention center."

The Ritual of Civic Apology More than a century after driving out their Chinese residents, cities across the West are saying sorry, with parks, plaques, and proclamations. But it’s seldom clear who they’re talking to—or what the...

This came out in September, so I'm catching up, but it's a terrific piece about the role of apology for distant harms with contemporary implications.
www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...

@washingtonpost.com I have a question for you: Does Pete Hegseth know what ‘kinetic’ means, or does he just like saying it? The videos they have posted don’t look like kinetic missiles…

Trump says Hegseth told him he didn’t order killing of boat crew The president also said he would not have wanted a second strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs, which occurred after U.S. forces realized the initial attack left two survivors, as The Post report...

“the targeting of defenseless people is prohibited — regardless of whether the U.S. is in an armed conflict, conducting law enforcement or other military operations…”

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Right - those missiles don’t look like kinetic weapons to me…

@nytimes.com I have a question for you: Does Pete Hegseth know what ‘kinetic’ means, or does he just like saying it? Inquiring minds want to know.

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

“As of November 5th, [the BU tracker] estimated that U.S.A.I.D.’s dismantling has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.”
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

When Does Someone Become ‘Old’? It’s surprisingly hard to find a good term for people in late life.

“…two-thirds of the Marist Poll respondents considered 65 to be “middle-aged” or even “young.” “I wouldn’t say [65] is old,” says Susan Jacoby, “but I know it’s not middle age—how many 130-year-olds do you see wandering around?”
www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

FBI seeks interviews with Democrats whom Trump called ‘traitors’ The Trump administration has aggressively sought to punish lawmakers who encouraged service members to disobey unlawful orders.

Is the counter argument that, in fact, service member ought to carry out orders that are unlawful? Or that service members can’t know what’s lawful and what’s not? Or that no order from the President can be unlawful? I’m really curious what they are proposing.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Tragic, sensitive and terrifying piece.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...

The Editor Got a Letter From ‘Dr. B.S.’ So Did a Lot of Other Editors.

“Dr. Chaccour said that while his experience with Dr. B.S.’s letter was funny, the bigger picture is not.”

Q: the NYT used just initials, but should people using undisclosed AI to write letters to journals be named or otherwise sanctioned?

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/s...

How we beat anti-vaccination bills in North Dakota You can’t fact-check fear, and other lessons from successful campaigns against anti-vaccine bills in North Dakota.

“…people didn’t necessarily distrust vaccines — they distrusted systems, government overreach, pharmaceutical profits, and experts who didn’t look or sound like them. This wasn’t ignorance. It was a response to feeling left out of the conversation.”

www.statnews.com/2025/05/29/a...

Trust in Health Care: Defend Patients, Not Just Science - Journal of General Internal Medicine Journal of General Internal Medicine -

"...the phrase “defending science” has become a rallying cry for physicians and public health experts, yet...the way health professionals defend science ... can erode the very trust it seeks to build."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

AI Killed the Take-Home Essay. COVID Killed Attendance. Now What? Reclaiming Learning in an Age of Distraction and Artificial Intelligence

“…assessment will center on activities I can actually observe: students will introduce class sessions, orchestrate discussions, deliver oral presentations, and field questions from their classmates. The work that matters will be the work I witness.”
open.substack.com/pub/stevenmi...

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

“*Potentially* divisive”? Seriously?

“We don’t deserve the trust of the nation if we’re unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas…”

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

The Shocking Truth About Gen Z Voters Is That They’re Pretty Great Stop panicking: They are the most progressive generation ever, especially on race. If that surprises you, you’ve been listening to the wrong story.

Super interesting piece…
newrepublic.com/article/2030...

AMA ethics journal shutters after 26 years The American Medical Association will cease publication of its ethics journal at the end of this year.  The AMA Journal of Ethics, an open access, peer-reviewed journal was founded in 1999 und…

Why was it closed? We can only guess.
retractionwatch.com/2025/11/13/a...

Opinion | In Memoriam: The Sudden Demise of the AMA Journal of Ethics A great loss for physicians, the profession, and the public

Our obit on the sudden death of the AMA Journal of Ethics, asking why did the AMA kill its ethics journal?
www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

🎓 Spring deadline’s near!
Get a Graduate Certificate in Bioethics & Humanities in Health 🧠💬
Online & flexible for health pros. Apply now 👉 www.cuanschutz.edu/centers/bioe... #Bioethics #GradCertificate #CUAnschutz @profgoldberg.bsky.social @mattwynia.bsky.social@cuanschutz.bsky.social

How a Joe Rogan-Mel Gibson podcast inspired Florida’s cancer research focus Following a Joe Rogan, Mel Gibson podcast, Florida wants to study whether ivermectin could work against cancer. There is not yet evidence it would.

“It’s frustrating because you try to reason with the patient on the risks and benefits of these alternative therapies, but you don’t want to come off as judgmental,” he said. “You have to walk this fine line.”

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

CBO says revised cost of orphan drug exemptions will add $3.9 billion to Medicare The Congressional Budget Office says exemptions for orphan drugs as part of Medicare price negotiations will cost taxpayers an additional $3.9 billion.

“The Congressional Budget Office has revised its forecast showing the [OBBA] will cost taxpayers as much as $8.8 billion — up from earlier estimates of $4.9 billion — over 10 years…”
The more we learn, the worse that bill is.
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

Cancer Study Links COVID Shots to Longer Survival 3-year survival twice as high with mRNA vaccine in lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy

"...mRNA COVID vaccination within 100 days of initiating a checkpoint inhibitor was associated with [~doubled] 3-year survival rates compared with no vaccination (55.8% vs 30.6%; adjusted HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.37-0.71, P<0.0001)" www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcover...

Are You Resigned to a World of Bad News? Or Do You Need Some ‘Cope’?

“A shocking amount of American emotional life revolves around our reactions to whatever it is we glimpse out there — and the ways we insist to one another that our reactions, and our realities, are the only non-delusional ones.“
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/m...

In rural America, scarce doctors battle misinformation as they practice medicine Conspiracy theories about health fill a vacuum created by the lack of doctors in many rural communities. Meanwhile, doctors in these areas say patients have become increasingly distrustful and sometim...

“Some of Symington's cancer patients curse at her for suggesting they vaccinate or wear masks to protect their weakened immune systems while undergoing chemotherapy.

"I actually had a patient's husband say, 'You only want me to mask because you're a liberal bitch.'"
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

America’s Retreat From Aid Is Devastating Somalia’s Health System

Rather than inspiring others to give more, our abrupt withdrawal of health aid is providing immoral cover for others to withdraw also. We have become a role model for lack of compassion.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/h...

RFK Jr. Links Circumcision to Autism via Supposed Tylenol Use Kennedy cited two studies, but neither offered proof of causality

RFK, Jr.: "We're doing the studies to make the proof."

That's how it works in court: seek out evidence to make your case, minimize or ignore contrary evidence.

But that's the opposite of how science works. We seek evidence to *disprove* our hypotheses.

www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...

Trust in public health agencies declines New Axios/Ipsos American Health Index shows Americans across the board are looking for clearer guidance on health and wellness information

Americans trust federal science agencies less now than they did at the end of last year, largely due to declining confidence among Democrats...54% now trust the CDC, down from 60% in June and 66% in December 2024.
www.ipsos.com/en-us/axios-...