Rekha Rapaka MD PhD's Avatar

Rekha Rapaka MD PhD

@rrapaka.bsky.social

Physician-scientist, mom, global public health & justice seeker. #progress #ID

742 Followers  |  142 Following  |  13 Posts  |  Joined: 09.11.2024  |  1.9511

Latest posts by rrapaka.bsky.social on Bluesky


Just remember that given the abundance of neurodivergent people in science, it’s far more likely that autism causes vaccines.

21.11.2025 17:56 β€” πŸ‘ 182    πŸ” 52    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 2
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Thousands of you shared heartbreaking and maddening stories with me about rising health care costs. But the fight is far from over.

If you're willing to record your story, we can make sure GOP lawmakers see and hear the direct impact of their policy failures: wintheera.myctbl.com/share-your-s...

31.10.2025 14:41 β€” πŸ‘ 4497    πŸ” 1724    πŸ’¬ 172    πŸ“Œ 51
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this is insane.

www.kivitv.com/canyon-count...

31.10.2025 18:50 β€” πŸ‘ 14561    πŸ” 5015    πŸ’¬ 777    πŸ“Œ 322
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Diphtheria, a Once Vanquished Killer of Children, Is Resurgent

My heart drops reading this article.
A child dying from an easily preventable disease is a moral failure for all of us. We are all responsible to change this.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/h...

27.10.2025 18:00 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I'm old enough to remember when polio put my friends into iron lungs.

We dutifully lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives.

What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.

07.09.2025 01:57 β€” πŸ‘ 18364    πŸ” 5186    πŸ’¬ 638    πŸ“Œ 244
I know hundreds, if not thousands, of pediatricians.  Every single one vaccinates their kids fully and on schedule.  Should tell you everything you need to know.  Vaccines work.

I know hundreds, if not thousands, of pediatricians. Every single one vaccinates their kids fully and on schedule. Should tell you everything you need to know. Vaccines work.

@alastairmca30.bsky.social

16.07.2025 00:36 β€” πŸ‘ 228    πŸ” 67    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 1
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Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

A moment of silence please for #USAID, which is officially shuttered after months of dismantling.

Why a moment of silence? Not only for the employees. But also for the estimated 14 MILLION deaths by 2030 predicted without the agency.

@altusaid.altgov.info

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

04.07.2025 01:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1376    πŸ” 492    πŸ’¬ 45    πŸ“Œ 15
With Sadness and Resolve: Why I Resigned as Chief Medical Officer of a National Institutes of Health Institute and What Comes Next | Annals of the American Thoracic Society

www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....

02.07.2025 02:00 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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In case you were wondering…

14.06.2025 03:41 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

LATER THIS HOUR: @ezralevin.bsky.social will join @maddow.msnbc.com to talk about No Kings Day, how Saturday’s nationwide mobilizations are looking even bigger than Hands Off!, and much more. Tune into @msnbc.com.

10.06.2025 01:11 β€” πŸ‘ 398    πŸ” 81    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 5

This is what Republicans do. It’s the difference between electing LePage vs Golden or Dunlap. #mepolitics

19.05.2025 15:29 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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Exclusive: NIH grant rejections have more than doubled amid Trump chaos At least 2,500 applications for research funding have been denied so far this year.

The not funded club has a lot more company this year

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

19.05.2025 23:15 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump-Allied Prosecutor Sends Letters to Medical Journals Alleging Bias (Gift Article) An interim U.S. attorney is demanding information about the selection of research articles and the role of N.I.H. Experts worry this will have a chilling effect on publications.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/h...

21.04.2025 14:58 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence | Journal of Virology On Monday, June 3, 2024, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a dedicated public health professional for over 40 years, testified volunt...

Promoting the lab leak theory for COVID without evidence is unconscionable. The government website is propaganda that goes against the strongest scientific evidence. COVID had a natural origin, and so can the next pandemic. Viruses don’t care about politics. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

19.04.2025 16:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A sad week for public health in the US The latest mass firings in critical US health services are short sighted, cruel, and ignorant, writes Esther Choo This week is National Public Health Week in the United States and perhaps the saddes...

It's National Public Health Week, the saddest one in memory.
We have lost a generation of scientists and public servants, whose institutional memory and works in progress will be lost to our nation with their abrupt dismissals www.bmj.com/content/389/...

08.04.2025 15:33 β€” πŸ‘ 196    πŸ” 65    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 5
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RFK Jr.’s Prescription for Bird Flu on Farms: Let It Spread The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.

This is dangerous.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/h...

19.03.2025 00:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Statement on CDC Decision to Study Vaccines and Autism

www.idsociety.org/news--public...

12.03.2025 02:11 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Atul Gawande- Stand up for Science- DC
β€œWe must bear witness” #publichealth #savescience

11.03.2025 01:13 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Boreal owl. A lite of cuteness in this 8” bird with a wingspan that goes up to 24 inches. Still dreaming about this moment!

πŸ“Έ swnaturephoto
#littleowl

10.03.2025 20:47 β€” πŸ‘ 4151    πŸ” 259    πŸ’¬ 32    πŸ“Œ 9
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Rep. Al Green removed from House chamber during Trump's speech to Congress House Speaker Mike Johnson has instructed the House Sergeant of Arms to remove Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disturbing Trump’s speech.

In a world of JD Vances be an Al Green:
#algreen #hero
apnews.com/video/al-gre...

05.03.2025 04:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Hearing from the NIH clinical center:

"NIH has a freeze on all purchasing cards [as of yesterday]. No exceptions for most hospital supplies. Clinical center ran out of cups and now is having patients wash down their pills with water from tiny medicine cups."

04.03.2025 18:16 β€” πŸ‘ 2396    πŸ” 786    πŸ’¬ 40    πŸ“Œ 44
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CDC Staff Prohibited From Co-Authoring Papers With World Health Organization Personnel It’s just the latest β€œOrwellian” crackdown on government scientists.

I don’t even know how this could be presented as being in service of anything other than hindering scientific progress.

01.03.2025 12:46 β€” πŸ‘ 13028    πŸ” 4596    πŸ’¬ 418    πŸ“Œ 303

I had one of those internships and it changed my life- I ultimately chose research for my career. This cut is clearly not to save money but to limit education and numbers of people who use facts and science to make decisions.

01.03.2025 04:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

In a world of JDs, be a Zelensky.

28.02.2025 20:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1589    πŸ” 261    πŸ’¬ 22    πŸ“Œ 8
Post image 28.02.2025 12:58 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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NIH plans to slash support for indirect research costs, sending shockwaves through science The NIH said Friday night that it would slash support for indirect costs on all existing and future grants to 15%

And recommend this piece from @statnews.com

www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/n...

08.02.2025 03:31 β€” πŸ‘ 42    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

@rrapaka is following 20 prominent accounts