Rekha Rapaka MD PhD

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...

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.

Whistle-Blower Complaints Detail Tension Over Vaccines at N.I.H.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/h...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Says an actual immunologist — this is hilarious la la land. Good luck with that one. It is simultaneously terrifying that this person with such power believes this is possible…

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

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...

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

In case you were wondering…

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.

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

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...

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...

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/...

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/...

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...

Statement on CDC Decision to Study Vaccines and Autism

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

Atul Gawande- Stand up for Science- DC
“We must bear witness” #publichealth #savescience

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!

📸 swnaturephoto
#littleowl

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...

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."

CDC Staff Prohibited From Co-Authoring Papers With World Health Organization Personnel It’s just the latest “Orwellian” 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.

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.

In a world of JDs, be a Zelensky.

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...

Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...