Julia Raifman, ScD

Thanks for sharing! This is a helpful map

Decline in Vaccination Coverage by Age 24 Months and Vaccination Inequities Among Children Born in 2020 and 2021 — National Immunization Survey-Child, United States, 2021–2023 An official website of the United States government

“Recent decreases in coverage with most of the ACIP-recommended childhood vaccines could lead to a

Resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, varicella, & rotavirus & their

Associated morbidity & mortality”

Texas Measles Strain Continues to Spread, Officials Say

The US has had measles “elimination status” for 25 years. It may be about to lose this status.

Measles can severely and fatally impact children, including infants under 1 year old who are too young to be vaccinated.

Increasing — and not further decreasing — child vaccination rates is essential.

Volunteers Help Immigrant Parents Get Their Kids to School With the ‘Walking School Bus’ “The moment that the raids started happening and people started getting pulled off the street, you could just see it,” volunteer Alyssa May said. “You could see less students, less families, less vend...

I thought this walking school bus was a great idea in Chicago and hope more communities may be able to organize similar efforts — and am very sorry it’s needed

news.wttw.com/2025/11/13/v...

Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis: The Devastating Measles Complication That Might Be More Common Than Previously Estimated - PubMed SSPE cases in California occurred at a high rate among unvaccinated children, particularly those infected during infancy. Protection of unvaccinated infants requires avoidance of travel to endemic areas, or early vaccination prior to travel at age 6-11 months. Clinicians should be aware of SSPE in p …

These infections are not innocuous.

In September this year, California tragically lost another school-aged child to SSPE she developed because she contracted measles as a baby too young to yet have her measles vaccine

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28387784/

Ahead of the upcoming ACIP meeting on the child immunization schedule, it’s important to remember immunizations are about more than individual decisions — immunizations affect communities, including babies too young to be vaccinated

L.A. child dies from complication of measles infection contracted in infancy The child died from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a fatal progressive brain disorder that strikes roughly 1 in 10,000 people infected with measles.

Evidence-based child vaccine recommendations are about more than individual decisions

A baby too young to be vaccinated contracted measles & recently died in childhood of a complication

Vaccines protect kids who receive them — & babies & others in their communities

www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Thank you for your writing and leadership!

Opinion | Congress needs to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies now As an emergency physician, I have cared for marginalized patients who came into public hospitals after delaying care because they had nowhere else to turn.

“The idea Congress can shut down the govt over affordable health care, delay action on extending these subsidies & maybe not extend them at all shows how far we have drifted from the basic principle that health care should be stable & not subject to political cycles”

- @ucheblackstockmd.bsky.social

Information underpins Democracy – why the BBC must be defended Recent events at the BBC have wide-reaching implications for our democracy - and the sooner we realise it, the better

Information underpins democracy and the BBC is a key part of that.

We need to protect our institutions

open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Public news is an essential public good

The threats are substantial — it has been sad & serious to see cuts to NPR & PBS in the US

May leaders in the UK & around the world speak up for the BBC

Thank you for your leadership & important points!

What can policy-oriented social scientists do in this moment?

POTUS has remade the GOP coalition anew in his image. Lines of conflict & opposition coalitions are scrambled. He's taking apart long-standing institutions & conventions, making the future is more fluid than ever in my lifetime....

This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt. Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiorello La Guardia: an agenda that will freeze the rents for more than two million rent-stabilized tenants, make buses fast and free, and deliver universal child care across our city. Years from now, may our only regret be that this day took so long to come. This new age will be one of relentless improvement. We will hire thousands more teachers. We will cut waste from a bloated bureaucracy. We will work tirelessly to make lights shine again in the hallways of NYCHA developments where they have long flickered.

In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light. Here, we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall. Your struggle is ours, too. And we will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism. Where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong — not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power.

From Mamdani’s victory speech,

Supporting economic security &

Supporting minority/human rights

Go hand in hand

In a compelling set of values

(& campaign message)

Zohran Mamdani represents the future of the Democratic party | Robert Reich Democratic party leaders like Chuck Schumer refuse to endorse Mamdani. And The New York Times wrongly cautions against him. Both are wrong

Zohran Mamdani represents the future of the Democratic party | Robert Reich

May New York & Mamdani lead all of us in better directions

Mamdani shows:

Supporting economic security & minority/human rights goes hand in hand & is a compelling set of values

(& campaign message)

May we see more of this 💕

SNAP benefits will restart, but it will be half the normal payment Courts ordered SNAP payments to restart, and the Trump administration said Monday the food benefits would be half the normal payment. About 1 in 8 U.S. residents get an average of $187 a month per person on SNAP.

JUST IN: Courts ordered SNAP payments to restart, and the Trump administration said Monday the food benefits would be half the normal payment. About 1 in 8 U.S. residents get an average of $187 a month per person on SNAP.

Why should you 🫵🏿 care about SNAP? SNAP recipients saw:

- Improved life expectancy
- Lower chance of incarceration
- Lowers chance of poverty
- Lived in better neighborhoods
- Higher human capital

SNAP keeps our neighbors fed, communities safer, and kids educated. Also people are HUNGRY. DUH!

Here is the link to donate:
give.feedingamerica.org

The picture reads,

“Feeding America

Help End Hunger Today

Thank you for helping feed your neighbors”

Thanks to @feedingamerica.org for helping families have food on the table this holiday season

Regardless of what happens next with SNAP, many people are losing jobs at the same time as health insurance premiums are rising & Medicaid coverage is set to decline

We can support those most affected

SNAP boosts households' average monthly income by 31%.

For households with kids, it's 42%.

SNAP prevents food insecurity, but it also enables households use scarce non-SNAP resources for other things... rent, utilities, diapers, school supplies...

from: www.fns.usda.gov/data-researc...

🥗 🛟

OECD Child poverty rate by country “On average across OECD countries, 12.2% of children live in relative income poverty (Chart CO2.2.A), but rates differ considerably from country to country. In six OECD countries (Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Spain, Türkiye and the United States), more than 20% of children live in relative poverty; rates are particularly high, at around 30%, in Costa Rica. In 17 other OECD countries (Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden), however, less than 10% of children live in relative income poverty. In Denmark and Finland, the child relative income poverty rate is only around 4%.” Source: https://webfs.oecd.org/els-com/Family_Database/CO_2_2_Child_Poverty.pdf

Did you know? The US has one of the highest child poverty rates of OECD countries.

The average child poverty rate across OECD countries is 12.2%

In the US, it’s over 20%

It’s partly why many children rely on SNAP

High rates of child poverty warrant a national conversation.

Mail-in voters who haven't returned ballots yet: Check your state's deadline to make sure your vote gets counted.

If your ballot must be received by Election Day, consider stopping by a ballot drop box or early voting site. It may be too late for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver it by Nov. 4...

I just spoke with Capital Area Food Bank CEO Radha Muthiah about how they are preparing for a possible lapse in SNAP funding. She told me that for every meal they provide, SNAP provides *nine*.

"The magnitude of the SNAP program is significant," she says.

Food bank director: “for every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There’s no way we can meet that gap.”

“I’m so appreciative.

I can’t wait to hug my babies.

And then I will get to work for others like me.”

— Jackie Merlos, after release from 4 months of ICE custody

“In its shutdown contingency plan, which has been since taken offline, the agency noted that “Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue” and referenced that the contingency plan can be used to fund participant benefits if a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”

Food is essential to survival.

People of all ages deserve to have enough food to eat.

Grateful for SNAP & hope we may find ways to continue providing it.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...

11.1% of SNAP recipients are kids under age 5, 27.7% kids 5-17, 41.6% adults 18-59, 19.5% adults aged 60 & older https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1124/snapparticipantage.xlsx

Did you know?

About 4.5 million SNAP recipients are babies and toddlers under age 5.

About 11.1 million SNAP recipients are kids aged 5 to 17 years, who need food for healthy growth, learning, & development.

The federal government has the capacity to continue funding SNAP during a shutdown.

"Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here." Anna Bower Monday, October 20, 2025, 5:40 PM Share On: f X in $ m My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.

ICYMI: This week, I published my story about text messages I exchanged with Lindsey Halligan — the prosecutor now pursuing criminal cases against Letitia James and James Comey.

It’s a wild ride, and I’m still trying to make sense of it all.

Your Sunday read: ⬇️

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...